Life on the road for any athlete is not easy, but high school and college are very different.
You have to deal with the opposing crowds, missing classes for possibly days at a time and preparing yourself mentally.
Road trips in high school were just something to get away from school. College is different.
“In high school we didn’t take too many road trips,” freshman Taryn Holland said. “Yes, we did have our tournaments here and there, but at the college level, it’s much different. In high school we would get on a bus and drive a few hours away and play three or four games. When you are in college you hop on a plane, fly across the country and end up playing two games.”
The crowd can be the success or downfall of certain players, especially when going into hostile territory. One can either give in to the negative energy or feed off it.
“As a goalkeeper I get a lot of negative energy from the opposing crowd,” Holland said. “The yelling, name-calling and whistling are all part of the game. I take great pleasure when I make a save, and the crowd stops yelling for that split second because they have nothing to say.”
Of course college athletes are also held to more grueling academic standards than high-schoolers.
They have to maintain pace with their non-athlete classmates while missing several classes for games.
“I am a student like anyone else,” Holland said. “School work has got to get done whether I am on the road or not. My main priority here is school, then soccer. I might not think about my class work as much as I should, but it is important for me to keep my grades up. Soccer or not, school is first.”
Prepping for a long road trip is more physically demanding than a simple home game. It weighs down the mind and could have disastrous outcomes if the student athlete is not both physically and mentally ready.
“I believe for most players that preparing for road trips is more mental than physical. Knowing that you are going to someone else’s field, on their turf, you have to be ready. If you are not mentally prepared, then the team will have issues,” Holand said.
Coaches are not immune to the stress of road games either. But head coach Neil MacDonald says it is only a matter of extra preparation.
“We’ve been doing this for a long time,” MacDonald said. “Travel arrangements are taken care of about six months in advance. The only downfall to it is that we lose a day of practice.”