When you’re a high school athlete, your sport becomes a significant part of your life. You spend countless hours practicing and preparing to be the best that you can be. For a select few, this continues on into their college life. But for most, it vanishes. So, where does an athlete go from here?
Demos Vulicevic (‘24) has been playing football for about six years and all four years at Skyline. When deciding if he wanted to continue playing, he had to think about the time he had and if he could get into a school with both strong academics and sports. “I thought it was the best decision to stop playing and focus on my business major,” said Vulicevic.
Although Vulicevic is not committed to play football at a university, he would like to join an intramural or club team. Asked about one thing he wouldn’t miss, Vulicevic replied “long summers…[Football] is pretty tiring and it’s really time consuming.” While he is feeling lots of emotions with his journey coming to an end, “football has taught me a lot of important lessons especially from the losing side of it,” said Vulicevic. “It taught me how to deal with [losses] and how it feels to win. Definitely going to be chasing those wins outside of football.”
Chiara Bichakjian (‘24) completed her “full circle” field hockey career this past fall. Bichakjian has played field hockey since she was in third grade. She started the recruiting process at the same time her club teammates did, freshman year. “I did a lot of camps and a lot of visits,” said Bichakjian. “Not any of them were official visits but I got to know a lot of different kinds of coaches.”
Bichakjian went through the recruiting process up until mid-way through her junior year. She felt herself turning away from her field hockey goals and towards her academic and career goals. She knew she wanted to pursue a pre-med route as well as a study abroad program. Bichakjian was concerned that if she got injured, she wouldn’t see herself at the school without the support of a team. As she was looking at schools for field hockey as well as a pre-med program, she says “I wouldn’t necessarily go there just by myself if I wasn’t involved in field hockey.”
Bichakjian is unsure if she wants to continue to play on a club or intramural team. However, she would still like to coach field hockey. Although the decision was a hard one to make, “I was really happy to end my senior field hockey season the way I did,” said Bichakjian. “It was definitely sad at first and an adjustment but now I am very at peace with it and happy with my decision.”
Sofia Nehro’s (‘24) successful soccer journey comes to an end after this spring season. Nehro has played soccer for 10 years, but as she got older, her academics became increasingly important to her: “If there wasn’t an opportunity for me to play at an institution where I could really excel in my academics then I didn’t really want to continue playing soccer.”
Like many others, Nehro would like to join a club or intramural team in college. She is going to miss the community, being a part of a team, and meeting people. Nehro is not going to miss the expectations she felt. “A lot of pressure comes with being an athlete,” said Nehro. “So just playing it for fun now will be a nice change.”
Nehro is going to miss all the people she has met through soccer as well as the community. “I loved being a part of a team,” said Nehro. Nehro said it is a “bittersweet” moment.
Since he was around seven years old, Ezra Min (‘24) has been playing hockey. Having a long connection to a sport creates deep emotional ties, but Min has been preparing himself for his breakup with the sport for years.
“I kind of always knew coming into high school that high school hockey was gonna be the last level of competitive play [for me],” said Min, “I still consider doing intramural or club depending on where I end up, but this is definitely the last time I play competitively.” Despite always knowing that this would be the end of his competitive journey, Min considers his time playing as a success. “I think I learned a lot from hockey,” said Min, “like hard work, leadership, and definitely just how to overcome adversity.”
Min is grateful for his time playing the sport, and appreciates all of the valuable lessons that have come from his relationship with hockey. The one thing he is ready to leave behind? “Probably the smell of the locker rooms.”
If there were a word to sum up her last three years of playing hockey, Helena Myler (‘24) would say it was successful. “I learned a lot,” said Myler. “I gained a lot of friendships through hockey, many
skills as well.” This made her decision to hang up the skates after high school a really difficult one.
While her love for hockey is strong, “for me, and for my mental and physical health, [moving on] is the best thing to do,” said Myler, “especially with the physical strain hockey puts on my body.” But like many other athletes, just because this is the end of her competitive career, it doesn’t mean there’s no place for it in her life.
“I think if I want to play as a result, beer league hockey [adult casual hockey leagues] is an option,” said Myler. While stepping away was a difficult decision, she knows that graduation serves as a good spot for that exit to happen and that there are options for her future in hockey.
Even when Sophia Marrs (‘24) is out of the pool, she has always had a deep connection with swimming and water polo. She has been swimming for her entire life, and playing water polo for the entirety of her stint in high school, so moving on from the former is no easy task. “It’s going to feel really weird to just stop like that,” says Marrs, “I’ve gone all of high school with very consistent practices, both in season at school, and out of season in club.”
Routine is very important for athletes, which is part of why Marrs plans to continue athletics at the club level in college. “I’m moving on from my swimming career, but for [water] polo, I’ve learned a lot and am excited for it in the future.”
