Name:

Jessica Croucher

Sport:

Volleyball

Degree:

Education

Status:

Graduated

What were some of the highlights of your time in the US?

Making the starting line-up freshman year and helping the team make it to the conference championship match that same year. After that it’s meeting the people and making friends that you will keep in touch with even after leaving and graduating.

Describe a typical day in your life as a student/athletic.

In season my typical day would be training 5-6 days a week on the court starting with practice starting at 6am, meaning you had to be at the hall at 5am to go to training room and get the nets set up, and we would finish between 8:30 – 9am. Then hopefully have time for breakfast and go to class, depending on your class schedule will depend how busy you are though out the day. Then I would have conditioning twice a week in the afternoons after classes. On top of all that as a freshman you would have 10 hours of study hall to complete throughout the week. So when in season it’s hectic, but comes out of season it slows down and you have more time.

How did you balance your studies, sport and spare time?

Study hall helped, because you had to go to the library and study or do assignments and you learn from that how to manage your time. So the key was having good time management, and because our practices were in the morning we had all evening and night to complete homework and study. However, when your travelling all the time it can be a bit much, but just try and take classwork with you even if it might be just some reading or something small. Getting it done while travelling those long distances is better than trying to do it when you get back after a game or tournament when you have no energy or concentration to do it.

What would you say to a high school student considering a US Scholarship?

I’d say if you are given the opportunity GO FOR IT! You will grow so much as an athlete and as a person. You get to immerse yourself in a different culture and get to meet some new people. But I would say keep in mind where in the US you would like to go, because if you really don’t like the snow don’t head to a school where you know it snows.

What are you up to now?

I am currently back living in Australia, going back to university. However, planning on continuing playing volleyball and hopefully end up playing professionally over in Europe.