“The secret of success is constancy to purpose.”

BENJAMIN DISRAELI

Let's talk about becoming a student-athlete. Why all this sacrifice and investment of time and money?

Simple: because it is the most fantastic life experience that exists!!

As an athlete, engineer, university professor, but also daughter, wife and mother, I confirm that becoming a student-athlete in an American university was something unique, special, unforgettable.

Guaranteed, it is not easy from any point of view, but certainly an experience that will remain forever in my heart.

We are already student-athletes since we started doing sports, because clearly we are already studying. In many cases in elementary or middle school we begin to fall in love with a sport to which, once we start taking it seriously, we dedicate even more time than we do to our family, to our friends and nowadays ... even to social networks. We give up parties and travelling and hours of sleep and we study in buses, in the car or between twos games of a weekend tournament, but none of this is seen as a problem and in many cases not even a sacrifice because the passion for the sport overcomes every obstacle to the point that it becomes wood that continues to fuel the fire of this passion.

At a certain point, however, we are no longer "forced" to study and we can "choose" to become only students, only athletes or student-athletes in an infinite number of different ways in thousands of places in the world. I have friends who have managed to achieve very demanding degrees such as law playing in the A1 and A2 series of women's and men's volleyball in Italy, those who decided instead to drop down a level to be able to dedicate themselves to completing their medical degrees and those who gave up completely a university career. Some were hoping to become true sports professionals, others because they are considered not good enough (in general by themselves).

Unfortunately, there are many of these last competitive athletes who stop doing sports to study and above all at competitive levels that are certainly not remunerated. In particular for them, becoming a student-athlete in the United States is a possibility that is usually underestimated or not evaluated at all thinking that it is not accessible to their profiles. In some cases it is true but in many others the athletic requirements to become part of a team (and also have the possibility of obtaining athletic scholarships) are more at hand than you think: in particular for volleyball and women's football, but also for men in both sports where Italians are particularly strong in relation to their American counterparts. Other sports such as athletics, skiing and water polo have many possibilities in American universities.

It is not for everyone. There are those who are afraid of not making it, of becoming homesick, of not being able to adapt to the culture ... but for those who have the courage and do not want to let the train passed by (yes ... because the best opportunities are only until 5 years after high school graduation), you must try.

In America parents spend unimaginable money to make their children good enough in a sport and to be able to obtain athletic scholarships given the very high cost of university expenses but in many other countries in the world such as Italy and much of Europe and South America, clubs are not prohibitive and a large part of the population manages to play competitive sports at a good level.

We talk about the future, we talk about experiences, about discovering ourselves ... about opportunities that we must not let go.