Before leaving high school, student athletes have to make a big decision. This decision is whether or not they want to continue their athletic career into college. During high school, you think college is so far away and this topic is never on your mind; until it has to be. All of a sudden people begin to ask you:

• Where do you want to go?
• What do you want to do when you’re older? 
• What field are you thinking of going into? 

These questions just continue to add up when you also play a sport. Making this decision can play a big part into where you want to go. 

I interviewed a few of our student athletes and had them reminisce on their final season and get their reasonings for not furthering their athletic career. 

Senior Cece Kosecki was a point guard for the girls basketball team. She has played for 10 years now. She began playing at such a young age mainly because she was influenced by her mom who also played the sport when she was little. 

“I was very happy the season was finally over,” said Kosecki. “However, I will never forget winning sections two years ago with the team.” 

Kosecki shared that her favorite part about the team was eating breakfast on Saturday mornings and hanging out outside of practice. 

“I chose not to play basketball in college because I’ll never be on another team that felt so much like family again,” said Kosecki. “Even though I did not enjoy basketball, I played for them and we all were so close.”

Her plans for her future are to go to Penn State Main for Elementary and Early Childhood Education. 

Senior Eli Ruediger was a two year member of the football team. He first got interested in football after watching college and NFL football games for years.

“My only regret is that I wish I had started playing earlier,” said Ruediger. 

His favorite memory is beating Hampton. Ruediger shared that because the team practices and trains all year long, it makes the team feel like a family.

“I decided not to play football in college because I feel that I am not talented enough to play at such a high level, and I won’t really have the time to,” said Ruediger.

His future plans are to go to college for Mechanical Engineering. 

Senior Meredith Martin was a starter on the girls soccer team. She has played soccer for 12 years now because her parents signed her up when she was 5 years old. 

“It is bittersweet that this was my last season,” said Martin. “I’m very sad to be leaving my teammates and friends after practicing soccer with them for 4 years, but I am looking forward to the next chapter.” 

Martin shared that she will never forget winning sections for the first time in Knoch Girls’ soccer history. She expressed that her team is like a family to her. 

“During practices and games, we always made sure to be encouraging and uplifting to one another, no matter what the score was,” said Martin. 

Martin shared that she loves soccer but has other passions in life also. 

“Ever since I started competing in powerlifting four years ago, I fell in love with it and decided to pursue that in college instead of soccer,” said Martin. 

She plans on attending Slippery Rock University and majoring in Exercise Science. 

Senior Ethan Thompson was on the golf team. He has played on the team for three years now and was interested in playing golf because his dad played. Thompson added that his favorite part about being on the golf team was being with his friends everyday.

“I decided not to play golf in college because I was just playing high school for fun with my friends,” said Thompson. 

His future plans are to go to Slippery Rock and to create a business. 

Senior Jade Nether was a singles player for the tennis team. Nether has played tennis for nine years since she quit ice skating and her mom told her to give tennis a try. 

“This season being my last, it was very memorable,” said Nether. “I was able to start 3rd on the team this year, which was a goal for me throughout the years.” 

She expressed that winning States for the first time freshman year was a memory that she will never forget. Her favorite part about the team was how inclusive and laid back everyone was. Nether thought that there was never a tense or awkward moment between anyone. 

“I decided not to play tennis in college because I was afraid of the workload I would have with studying to be a nurse,” said Nether. 

Her future plans are to go to The University of Akron and she hopes to get her masters degree to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner. 

I agree that this is a difficult situation to be in. It is hard trying to make a decision on playing the sport that you love in college. It can be hard to figure out a way to study and balance school work with the sport. 

If you would like to hear about Knoch’s student athletes who are continuing their athletic career into college, check out Aidan Jones’ article.