A College Update From Jeff Offerdahl At Vanderbilt

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A College Update From Jeff Offerdahl At Vanderbilt

Dear ATA comrades,

I thought now would be an appropriate time to update you on how my college life has been thus far. It's been a little over a month now since I've started classes, and I have to say college is definitely living up to the hype. I thought it was impossible for me to be busier than I was in high school, but I am. The first 2 weeks were pretty much hell. I had never been so sore in my life; I literally had to hold on to something to propel myself up in the morning my abs were so tight. My Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays are very tough. We wake up at 530 am to go run for an hour. Then, I go get breakfast and head to 2 classes back to back. Then I study for a little bit and get some lunch. My last class on these 3 days ends at 2, and after I go to practice. We lift during these 3 days, and let me say I have never seen a weight-trainer as intense as the one we have. If any of you know Mark Herbert, just think his opposite. I didn't think this many freshmen jokes could've been made up by someone, but they have with him. Tuesdays and Thursdays are a bit easier. We have practice in the morning and then 30 minutes of plyometrics. Thankfully, I only have 2 classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. At night, I generally go to study hall for 3-4 hours, as every freshman on the tennis team is required 8 hours per week.

The biggest changes for me from high school to college have been living with someone and making every decision for yourself. I have had the pleasure to room with one of the few international students at Vanderbilt, but he has been the best possible roommate. However, I can't say it's been easy to share a room with someone. Also, in college it is your responsibility to do just about everything. It's your choice whether to go to class, how much to study, and just what to do with your time. It's a great challenge to be utterly self-motivated.

Training in college is much different. Even though I probably played more tennis on a daily basis in juniors, it wasn't quite as intense. Many of our practices are circuit workouts with no breaks. The lifting and running workouts are harder. However, with your team around you to push you, it's great. Our team is already super close and I have gotten along with everyone. It's been great to have 5 other freshmen to share this experience with.

I am enjoying most everything about college. Everyone here is great. If you're looking for someplace really accommodating, it's here. I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of people in the past couple of weeks and it's hard to pick out someone who I haven't liked. I've also enjoyed being on a team and representing the black and gold. It may feel like a job a lot of times, but it's definitely the kind of job that I want to have. I think the adjustment the first week or so was the most challenging. I didn't really know what to expect and it was kind of difficult to get in the gist of things, like knowing where my classes are, doing laundry, figuring out my teachers, hosting a recruit, etc. I feel like now I am finally in the swing of things.

Anyways, I hope everything at ATA is going well and everyone is still working hard to achieve his or her respective goals.

Miss y'all.
Jeff

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