Every fall marks the beginning of a new athletics season for Oakland University's sports teams. With every school year a new incoming class of freshmen recruits arrive to help fill the holes left by departed seniors and to build upon the success they've left behind.
One way to measure the success of a program is by the type of recruiting classes brought in by the teams. Coaches are tasked with getting new players to quickly buy in to the team philosophies. This helps contribute to long-lasting success.
In speaking with several members of this year's freshman class, however, the pressures of moving from high school to collegiate athletics at the Division I level is proving to be one of the greatest challenges.
"The biggest difference between high school and college sports is the whole fact that everyone is a great player," said Brittany Holbrook, a freshman volleyball player from Westland, Mich. "Instead of leading the team like you did in your later days of the high school years, you start over again as a freshman."
Holbrook is the starting middle hitter for the Golden Grizzlies this season, helping the women's team to an 13-4 record thus far. She has recorded 140 kills so far this season, which is good for third on the team.
"The most difficult thing about transitioning between high school and college is managing school work," Holbrook said. "In college sports, you sometimes have to miss class because of traveling and you miss lectures that day. It gets tough, but you have to learn to make it work."
For freshman midfielder Alyssa Fulton of the women's soccer team, the biggest challenge for her has been the game itself.
Fulton said that the main adjustment she's had to make in college has to do with the quicker pace of the game.
"College sports are a lot more intense and physical," Fulton said. "I also think that the aggression level is much higher in college than in high school."
However, the better competition is one of the things Fulton said she is enjoying the most about playing collegiate soccer.
"I definitely love the hard work that is put into college sports compared to high school," Fulton said.
One of the true tests of whether freshmen can make a big impact in their rookie season is whether they can adjust to the speed and increased competition of the game. In addition to playing the games, new student athletes have to adjust to living on their own and juggling a lot of things at once.
"In college, the sport you play is a job," said freshman baseball player Mike Carson. "The only thing that I miss about high school baseball is the amount of free time that you have."
Carson, an infielder from Attica, Mich., said he's making sure that baseball does not consume his entire life and to enjoy his first year in college baseball at Oakland.
"You can never stop having fun in the sport that you play," he said.
The one thing that all three of these athletes agreed upon is how the higher level of competition seems to push them to playing up to their abilities.
"Everyone is dedicated and with your teammates being great and giving 100 percent, you'll do the same and you'll also get better as well," Holbrook said.
"The speed of the game makes you keep your mind on what's going on all the time," Carson said. "Also, everybody at this level is good. This makes everybody step up their own game to get better."
For Carson, the true test for his freshman season will not come until the spring when the baseball season starts. But for Holbrook and Fulton, their respective seasons are in full swing and the athletes needed to make their adjustments almost immediately after stepping onto campus.
For some students this can be difficult, but for others it appears they are meant to play Division I athletics.
"I don't think that there is anything that I don't like about college sports so far," Fulton said.
These three freshmen have already done one of the most difficult things in college sports — making the transition from being the star of their high school to being a team player in college.
