Most competitive athletes dream of the day that they find the school that wants to bring them in and pay for at least a portion of their college schooling. In my opinion, you aren’t actually a student-athlete until you are a collegiate student-athlete. Just a couple of weeks ago, I got that big-time offer to play competitive D1 golf at Delaware State University. At that moment, it felt like everything that I had dreamt of and tried to accomplish had finally manifested. Coach Rick Mccall sat me down and offered to pay for my whole school tuition; room, board, and books included.

I felt relieved. Ever since I started playing golf at 10, I knew that if I worked hard enough that one day I would get the chance to go to college for free. 

For a while, it wasn’t clear that I wasn’t going to be able to get that chance. The past year has been slow from a recruitment perspective. All of my friends around me were talking about their relationships with so many of the coaches that I had reached out to, but when I looked at my inbox I didn’t see anything. I was starting to lose confidence. Fortunately, about a month ago I finally heard something from one of the coaches that I had been reaching out to you. Soon I had the decision to make.  

I had been previously offered a full-ride scholarship to Alabama State, and after an official visit to their school, I was almost 100% sure that that was the school I wanted to go to. However, about a week before Thanksgiving, I got the chance to see Delaware; and it was like everything felt right. The school and the city and the people made me feel immediately welcomed and like that was the right place for me. Now I had to let the coaches at Alabama know that I wasn’t going to accept their offer. 

In the end, even though Delaware is kind of far and definitely a huge step, I think that it is a step in the right direction and the best opportunity for me.