Transitioning from senior year in high school to your first year in college can be tough for anyone, especially at a huge university like BU. From finding your bearings and navigating your way around campus to taking your virgin journey into Allston and silently celebrating your first successful swipe into Sleeper Hall at 2 a.m., there are a lot of hurdles to jump through in the first few weeks on campus.
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Student-athletes who play varsity sports in the fall season find themselves in a unique situation. They possess something that most other freshman left at the curb: responsibility. The women’s soccer team, for example, reported to preseason on August 4th this summer. Some of the freshman had promenaded across the stage just six weeks earlier, making for a very short summer. Their August is void of late night adventures or beach parties or barbeques. Instead, those humid summer nights are replaced by an early bedtime in preparation for an even earlier workout.
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By the time their thousands of peers arrive for move-in day, the eight women’s soccer freshmen have already played four regular season games and have personally experienced the BU-BC rivalry. By the time classes began, they have already spent a week playing soccer in Oregon. And when its time to embark onto Ashford Street to commemorate the first week of classes, you will not see them trying to balance in four-inch heels or knocking on the wrong apartment doors. No, they must abide by the team rules and stay in their first true Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights as college freshman. They had two games that weekend and they are responsible both for preparing themselves for competition and for respecting their teammates.
But that isn’t to say that they aren’t having a good weekend. While most students are thrust into social situations in an attempt to meet new people, these eight lucky girls each already have seven best friends. Over the past month they have seen a side of West Campus that most people can’t even imagine: it was quiet, the food was always hot, and they never had to wait for an elevator. More importantly, they bonded with their team in such a way that when they sit in their sweats while their floor mates head out at midnight, they are comforted by their upperclassmen who have all gone through this before and wouldn’t trade in one red box movie night for a single red solo cup.
*photo courtesy of Steve McLaughlin