Be The Blogger: Competition Winner Announced

We would like to say a massive thank you to all who entered our guest blogger competition over the festive period! We were very impressed with all the entries we received, but there can only be one winner - so congratulations to Corrie McDonald, 18, from Cornwall, who has been selected to be our regular guest blogger! You can read Corrie's competition entry below in response to the question: Why do You Want to be an American Student-Athlete? "The question of my career choice and further education possibilities have been hanging over my head since the age of 14, when I had to make those first adult decisions of which GCSEs to take. At the time it was a hard decision and I left my options open by taking Drama, P.E and Media Studies as well as the usual: Maths, English, Science Etc. But as I progressed in to year 11 and 12, I had to seriously think about my future. University in the UK, like one of my brothers (America wasn’t even an option then); an apprenticeship, like my sister; or straight in to a job, like my oldest brother (a lot of siblings I know). Just over a year ago someone told me about sports scholarships in the U.S. I had heard about this route before but never really considered it as an option. The more I looked into it the more people I came across who had either gone through the process themselves or knew someone who had. The more knowledge I got, the more I wanted to get out there and do it! Becoming a student athlete in America would not only give me the opportunity to earn a top class education, but it would also allow me to play the sport I love at an extremely high standard and gain the experience of living in an entirely different culture. University sport is so much bigger in America than it is the UK. The facilities are incredible, coaching and training is full time at a high standard and the sport itself is taken so much more seriously. I know that becoming a student athlete in America could be somewhat expensive but I would be doing something that I actually want to do and I feel that it would be worth it! If you want something that bad you have to try all you can to make it happen. Anything worth having is worth fighting for! Plus, I have family living on the west coast of America, so it would be nice to be able to connect with them on a more personal level and perhaps even visit them while I'm out there.  I’ve never actually been to America before (I’ve never really been out of the EU) to which some people would think I'm crazy for wanting to jump two footed into something so big. But if you don’t go hell for leather and aim for the stars, you’re never going to achieve your dream! With all of these things in mind, and the fact that the British University tuition fees have increased, becoming a student athlete in America seems like an opportunity I’d be stupid to just wave on by."  

Once again, thank you to all who entered the competition, stay tuned for monthly updates from Corrie about her experiences securing a soccer scholarship to the USA, and for more competitions in the coming months!