This fall, Upper School seniors interested in continuing sports when they graduate began to narrow down their choices for college. Behind the scenes, these players put much effort into their sports, from training and exercising to contacting coaches and applying to schools. Five seniors, Isabelle Connell, Karan Das-Grande, Nikhil Panu, Maverick McNealy, and Siobhan Cox, relate their sports stories leading up to college, their hopes for the future, and their advice to other interested students.

Isabelle Connell (12)

Although Isabelle began running from a very early age, she began to take a serious interest in the sport only in her sophomore year.

“I have to give a lot of credit to Coach [Ron] Forbes. Once I remained committed and started working out four times a week with Coach Forbes, he gave me the physical and mental security [to] do really well,” she said.

She described how as a result of her consistent work, she dropped her time by a second and a half in the 200 meter and 400 meter races. As she improved, she began to contact college coaches in accordance to NCAA rules, beginning in her junior year.

“Senior year, you can finally start receiving calls from [coaches] and they will invite you to official visits,” she said.

Isabelle said that her advice for other students looking to pursue college sports would be to “stand out.”

“There [are] thousands of kids around who want to get into the same school and are also trying to use their sport as a hook to get in, or they may have the same passion as you do. Make yourself stand out,” she said.

She has already sent her application to meet the November 1 deadline and is in the process of applying to other schools.

Karan Das-Grande (12)

Co-captain of the Varsity water polo team, Karan spoke about the time he invested in the sport and his opportunities to play in the future.

“I have been playing a lot longer with school, but when I am playing outside, I definitely get a higher level of competition [and] different coaching. [It’s] a mix of the two.” he said.

Like Isabelle, Karan began contacting schools in his junior year. He pointed out the uniqueness of pursuing water polo past high school.

“Water polo is different than football [or] basketball,”  he said. “The majority of [the recruitment process] is kids proactively contacting the coaches to show initial interest [because] it is a smaller sport. So it is harder for the coach to find out about the player.”

Karan knew he wanted to pursue water polo during the second semester of his junior year.

“I had always wanted it, but I did not realize how badly I wanted it until last year. I have basically narrowed it down over the summer to two schools, and I have decided which one to apply to now,” Karan said, referring to Connecticut College.

Karan acknowledged the tremendous amount of work required to pursue college sports.

“It is not going to be easy,” he said. “You have to work hard for it. Do not be reactive, but be proactive in terms of contacting coaches, emailing them, and staying in touch with them. Don’t expect them to come at you. You need to try and go to them.”

Because the opportunities to play water polo on a professional level are rare, Karan plans to continue in college and see where the sport takes him. As of now, his coach has notified him that he has a good chance of acceptance from his first choice college.

Nikhil Panu (12)

Nikhil began playing basketball when he was very young and is continuing the sport through his senior year of high school.

“I have been playing basketball since I was five years old, but slowly I have played more competitively over time. It has been a while now,” he said.

Nikhil described his time on the school team and the training he did in addition to scheduled practices.

“I’d work with Coach [Butch] Keller [or] a coach outside of school,” he said. “We would do skill work like ball handling, shooting, [and other] aspects of the game. I would put in an hour or two hours everyday doing that.”

For Nikhil, the recruitment process began during the summer when he went to camps to play and be evaluated by coaches across the country. He kept in contact with the coaches whom we wanted to play for in college and invited them to watch him play basketball.

“Well, the recruiting process could start anytime depending on the player, but I have been working all summer,” he said. “I went out and played pretty well, and it worked in my favor. [Now], I have to wait and see what the decisions are in terms of admissions and then it’s the process of deciding between the few schools.”

He also acknowledged the differences between playing basketball in high school and playing in college.

“It’s a big jump,” he said. “People are bigger, and it’s a faster game, tempo wise. You play at a larger level. You are playing for more.”

Nikhil’s advice to other athletes is to stay mentally strong and take advantage of every opportunity to shine. As of now, he is planning to make his final decision in December.

Maverick McNealy (12)

A senior who played golf on the Upper School team, Maverick discussed his options for playing at the collegiate level and the connections he had to make to pursue them.

“I have played golf pretty much my whole life,” he said. “It is a pretty individual sport to play in individual tournaments. I play hockey in the winter so I play [golf] pretty much half the year, but when I do play, I play all day, every day.”

Maverick was given an early athletic application to Stanford during the summer and received acceptance.

“They have three [acceptances] per year,” he said. “Now, I am verbally committed to play for Stanford. On November 2, I am signing the letter, which formalizes it.”

Maverick said he is not planning on sending other applications for college. Looking further into the future, he is apprehensive about playing golf as a career.

“I have always wanted to play golf in college, [but it wasn’t] until the last two years that I have been talking to the coaches to help and make it happen,” Maverick said. “If I play in college really, really well, I might pursue it, [but] I’m thinking that it is not going to be a career for me.”

He believed that making connections with the coach was an important factor in gaining acceptance to Stanford.

“I knew the Stanford coach personally before, which [was] very helpful, but [for] golfers, if you want to get recruited playing the tournament on a national stage, and for athletes in general, somewhere in your sophomore year or before your junior year, you start sending emails to the coaches, [and] put together a resume,” he said.

After November 2, Maverick will be formally committed to play at Stanford University.

Siobhan Cox (12)

Unlike Maverick, Siobhan did not play with the Upper School team this year but rather pursued soccer in another organization.

“I play actively with my team in Palo Alto, which is called PSV Union,” she said. “I have been with them for nine years. My coach’s regular club teams normally train two or three times a week, [but] we train mostly every day of the week, unless we have a game, and then we get a day off. We completely immerse ourselves in it rather than doing it part of the time.”

Siobhan became involved in the sport at a young age and joined her current team because she wanted to improve her soccer skills.

“I always blame my friends because I was a super girly girl, who hated sports completely in lower school,” he said. “Then I started hanging out with a group of guys, and I switched from playing tag to soccer. I was really bad at it, so I joined a soccer team [to get better].”

She is now very serious about pursuing the sport through college and as a career.

“Everyone keeps asking my major, and I tell them I am going to major in soccer,” she said. “I went and talked to the coaches and saw the field, and talked to people to find what a life of the athlete would feel like and that’s how I chose my schools.”

Siobhan hopes to stay local, but she is more concerned with the strength of the program and how it will help her reach a professional level.

“I would love to go as far as [the sport] takes me,” she said. “My mom was actually born in Ireland, my dad was born in England, and I am an American. That gives me an opportunity to play in one of the three national teams, which would be fun.”

Siobhan submitted an application to Stanford and recently received acceptance.  For others looking to play in college, she advises them to make sure they love the sport as that is the most important factor.