Jessie Warren, the National Championship-winning infielder and college All-American at Florida State as well as a professional player with the USSSA Pride and the Athletes Unlimited league, contributes weekly to Extra Inning Softball and shares her great insights on the sport we all love!
In today’s feature, she talks about what it was like for her to graduate high school and then begin her life as a college student.
How did it work out, you may wonder (if you don’t know her story)?
Well, since we’re in the middle of the 2022 Women’s College World Series, let’s flash back to June 5, 2018 when Jessie made one of the greatest plays in WCWS softball history!
Here is that play as shown on the ESPN telecast when FSU would go on to win the national championship…
Still, she didn’t just show up on campus and become this amazing National Championship-winning catcher, though… Jessie had to integrate and acclimate to college life, too, as a freshman… and work hard in a structured schedule to balance sports and academics.
In her latest blog for Extra Inning Softball, the athlete remembers her transfer from prep life to collegian and shares her thoughts and advice here…
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School for 12th graders is ending, and graduations are starting all across the nation.
That mean 2022 commits are soon approaching their entrance into college and, if you’re one of them, do you know what to expect?
If not, here is a little sneak peek into what you’re getting yourself ready for in your first summer/fall semester…..
My freshman year of college in the summer of 2014, I attended what was called “summer bridge.” It was for athletes who were freshmen and was designed to be a part of a program to help them get to know campus a little better and to get a head start on their academics.
The reason I went was because–being transparent here–my grades out of high school were good BUT I knew I needed to get a head start academically knowing I sometimes struggled in school. My advisors in school knew this too and helped me get integrated in to college life.
Summer was fun, because not many people were on campus but fall quickly approached and I was NOT prepared for what was to come!
Going into the fall of my freshman year at Florida State, I had never really weight lifted before o I was surprised by a bunch of workouts we players were assigned (and they, obviously, were to my benefit).
From Monday through Friday, we had early morning workouts followed by classes all day as well as practice in the afternoon. That was then followed by mandatory study hall hours for all incoming freshman to make sure we didn’t fall behind and were eligible to play in the spring.
Here is a glimpse of my schedule my first year in college:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday:
- 5:00am – Wake Up
- 6:00am – 7:30ish: Weight-lift or Conditioning (depend on the day)
- 8:15am – 9:45am: STA 1013 Statistics Through Example
- 10:00am – 11:15am: Snack / Commute to next class
- 11:15am – 12:30pm: GEA 1000 – World Geography
- 12:45pm – 1:00: Commute to study hall buliding
- 1:30pm – 2:00pm: 30 minutes of my 6 hours of study hall
- 2:30pm – 5:30pm: PRACTICE
- 6:00pm – 8:00pm: Dinner / Mandatory study hall
- 8:30pm – 9:00pm: Commute home
- 9:00pm – 10:30pm Study/Home Work/Wind down for tomorrow
Tuesday/Thursday:
- 5:00am – Wake up
- 6:00am – 7:30ish: Conditioning
- 8:15am – 9:45am: ENC1102 – Fresh Writing Research
- 10:00am – 11:15am: Snack / Commute to study hall
- 11:30am – 12:00pm: 30 min study hall
- 12:30 – 1:45: SYG1000 – Intro Sociology
- 2:00 – 5:30: Individuals / PRACTICE
- 6:00Pm – 8:00pm: Dinner / Mandatory study hall
- 8:30pm – 9:00pm: Commute home
- 9:00pm – 10:30pm: More Study/ Home Work / Wind down for another day tomorrow
The first semester was tough, but once you learned and understood managing your time and worked to prioritize what’s important, it became easy to stay on top of things.
When you high school grads transition to the next level, you have so much support and help of people willing to help you prioritize what’s important but I’m going to be honest, I still didn’t entirely figure it out until the end of my sophomore year, because there was so much freedom to make choices… but once you got it, you got it and I hope you get it earlier than later!
Good luck to all you 22’s!
— Jessica Warren, Extra Inning Softball correspondent
