Being from Ann Arbor and field hockey not being the most prominent sport . It was hard to get noticed by other coaches um across the country , but I think I was fortunate enough my parents spent countless hours driving me to different tournaments and ID clinics so that I could get myself out there in front of a wide variety of coaches and then just I was fortunate enough that I had um my club coaches and high school coaches that were well connected and were able to put out a good word for me and then Um , I used a recruiting platform website where I would constantly make videos of my play and email coaches and I was able to connect with them through that too . In all senses , I would say they all kind of combined to create like one formula that kind of pushes you through , um , but I would say that when I was talking to coaches , the Most like determining factor that they're looking for is kind of your effort and attitude , and I think that pretty consistently across the board coaches said that they could see that I had strong leadership and that um I was just a hard worker through and through , and especially at the Division One level , every coach can develop your skills up to the same level as everyone else , so I think it's kind of those like core factors inside of you that will kind of push you over the edge .
Field hockey is a fall sport , so it was definitely a whirlwind kind of starting school and meeting everyone as well as like my very first season , and these are the best girls I've ever played with , um , so it was definitely a lot thrown at you at once . Um , I'm very fortunate that the Girls in my recruiting class , I'm very close with and kind of it was really nice to be able to rely on them and my older teammates as resources for kind of just advice on how to get through things , um , but I would say every single program in every single school has help for you if you know to ask for it . And I think I sometimes had to learn the hard way and I definitely saw like my teammates and friends do the same , but if you need help , ask for it before it's actually an issue and you like everyone will be willing to help , there's plenty of resources there for you .
I think I started really focusing on it once I got to high school , I was consistently emailing coaches , creating videos , and I couldn't talk to coaches till June 15th going into my junior year . Um , but I would always travel to college campuses to do camps and visits like prior so that I got a feel for the schools and was able to research like academics and um the athletics there and I think just I was able to visit and gather as much information and as short of a time as I could before June 15th came and then it was all kind of a whirlwind of which coaches wanted you back , which ones you felt like you connected with the coaches , with the girls , um . But ultimately after visiting everywhere , I decided that Michigan was very much home for me .
Most importantly , until you experience other things , you're not really able to be certain of any one decision , and I think having like the most open mind like I knew without a doubt Michigan was the right school for me because I was so certain that it wasn't honestly going into it and I think the more open-minded you can be . Um , the more you can kind of like actually see what is going to be the right fit and what attributes of a school and team actually like click and connect with you . Field hockey is a fall sport , so it was definitely a whirlwind kind of starting school and meeting everyone as well as like my very first season , and these are the best girls I've ever played with , um , so it was definitely a lot thrown at you at once .
Being from Michigan , field hockey is not as prominent of a sport as more on the East Coast and overseas . So I really had to step up through fitness and strength and conditioning training . Um , my parents were fortunate enough to put me with a gym in the local area called Blue Line Fitness , and the trainers have pushed me all the way through as well as all my club coaches , but I would say definitely like hours that I would put in on my own .
