IMG Academy’s campus houses 56 tennis courts, over 20 multi-sport fields and an 18-hole golf course. Photo courtesy of IMG Academy.
NHU-HAN BUI | STAFF REPORTER | hbui@butler.edu
The transition from high school to college is a hectic time for students. For many, it is their first time living away from home. That change, combined with a harder academic workload and a new social environment, can make for a stressful first-year experience.
Student-athletes have to adapt to new coaching staffs, teammates and locker room environments on top of that. For some, there is also the challenge of fighting for playing time on a larger roster with more experienced or talented players.
Athletic preparatory schools help make the transition easier. According to Prep Athletics, athletic prep schools offer a higher level of competition compared to traditional high school leagues, which prepares students for the faster pace and intensity of collegiate-level play. These schools also have experienced staff and facilities to help athletes’ individual development.
One example of an athletic prep school is IMG Academy, located in Bradenton, Florida. Treva Dodd, a first-year on the women’s golf team, attended IMG for high school.
The athletic programs at IMG are a large part of students’ experiences. Many athletes go on to play at top colleges in the country, and some even go on to play professionally.
“Everything was about sports,” Dodd said. “I only knew a couple [of] people who were there for just school but they had club sports or cheerleading, so it just fit their schedule better. Signing day [and] commitment day were huge days [there]. Football especially [was huge], a bunch of my friends back in the day ended up going to the NFL Draft.”
Another example is Culver Academies, located in Culver, Indiana. Graduate defender MC Wright on the lacrosse team attended Culver, where she was a two-year starter and varsity letterman for the women’s lacrosse team.
While Culver is known for being a college preparatory school, it still placed an equal emphasis on both academics and athletics.
“It was really well balanced, you were pushed in both realms,” Wright said. “It [also] provided me the opportunity to play multiple sports. I played soccer, basketball, lacrosse, I swam for a season and I [did rowing]. It exposed me to teams and people that I wouldn’t have been a part of otherwise. We [went] really hard in the classroom and also found value in being on an athletic team.”
For other student-athletes, however, the traveling required for their sport led them to choose homeschool or an online high school over in-person schooling. The flexibility that comes with online or homeschooling allows athletes to commit more time to sports and not fall behind academically.
Lauren Cook, a sophomore on the women’s tennis team, attended online school from eighth grade though senior year of high school. Although she started middle school in person, Cook made the transition to an online school because she often missed classes for travel.
“Most tennis players, if you’re at [USTA Level 1], tournaments can be up to a week-long,” Cook said. “In middle school, I would get in trouble for leaving class or different stuff like that. Obviously, school comes first but I didn’t want to quit tennis because it’s been something I loved for so long. We found an online school and the place [where] I trained recommended doing online school as well. At first, [the transition] was hard but I got used to it after a while.”
Prep schools present their students with unique opportunities that a traditional high school may not provide. Many prep schools are also boarding schools, which let students live on their own before college. This introduces them to being independent early on.
“You’re 14 [years old] when you leave home,” Wright said. “You [learn] very quickly how to be independent and you have people depend on you and [vice versa]. I think that you really figure out how you fit into the world a little sooner than you would if you’re going to [a traditional] high school.”
Dodd shares the same sentiment. Originally from Wisconsin, she moved down to Florida after the COVID-19 pandemic left her unable to return to school in person.
Moving across the country at a young age was a large change, but Dodd felt it made her transition to Butler easier.
“Not being able to see my family all the time was a huge adjustment at first,” Dodd said. “It definitely made getting to college a lot easier because I’ve already been away from home for a while, but it feels a lot better [being] only four hours away rather than 22 hours. It was hard because I transitioned into an adult at 14 years old rather than at 18, but I think it made me a lot more of a mature person now.”
Along with learning to be independent, Culver also introduced Wright to leadership roles that would normally not be available to her.“Culver gave me the opportunity to do things at an age that otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to do, like leading groups of people or having people depend on me,” Wright said. “I had more empathy and more understanding of other people’s situations and perspectives, which has prepared me both academically — being able to look at complex issues and formulate solutions — and athletically, being able to lead a team.”
Cook’s first year at Butler presented one challenge most students don’t have: it was her first year attending in-person classes since seventh grade.
While she adjusted to the new team, Cook also had to adapt inside the classroom.
“I chose Butler because a massive college would intimidate me too much, but I was definitely scared,” Cook said. “I never really studied or knew how to take notes [because] I could just rewatch the lectures. I had to learn how to do a lot of things and re-adjust the way that I taught myself [the material].”
A new academic environment also came with a new atmosphere on the tennis court.
“It’s very different because [in] college tennis you’re with a team and junior tennis [you’re by] yourself out there,” Cook said. “I had to learn how to put my team first instead of myself because tennis is a very individualized sport. [Another] big issue was splitting up tennis and school. I try and separate them as much as possible so when I’m on the court, I’m not worrying about what I need to get done later in the day.”
No two athletes have the same journey from high school to college, both on and off the playing field. No matter what method of schooling they choose, the adjustment from high school to the collegiate level of play is still something that all athletes face.
“I feel like I was very well prepared because we would do the same thing [there] as we do now [at Butler],” Dodd said. “The biggest challenge was competing at a high level but experience on the courses and practicing all the time made it less of an adjustment.”
