Sam Steinman was shocked coming into his freshman year of baseball at VTSU Castleton. After thinking he was a D1 talent after coming off an all-state final season in high school, he instead settled to play for Castleton’s D3 program.

But even D3 provided him with a huge reality check.

 “Seeing how much bigger, stronger and faster everyone was, was eye opening,” Steinman said.

He had gone from on top of the world in high school to coming to the realization that, “No one in college is ass,” said friend Tyler Dubreuil, seated nearby during a recent interview.

High school sports were “more of a side quest,” for Emma Caskey, who plays on VTSU Castleton’s women’s lacrosse team. She was the best on her team in high school, and even “taught them how to play defense.” But when she got to college, she was on the bench with an injury and had a hard time transitioning due to the mental pressures of her college sport. Caskey soon came to realize sports in college were much more serious.

After interviewing 18 VTSU Castleton athletes, there was one thing that they all had in common: they all said the level of competition and intensity of practice and competition is so much greater in college.

The wrestling team is one of the most successful programs at VTSU Castleton and it all makes sense, because “the amount of intensity in that room is crazy,” said VTSU Castleton wrestler Desmond Mclaughlin.

The wrestling team has managed to become a top 10 ranked program in the nation for D3 and it is directly related to that level of intensity they practice with, team members said.

Andrew Marchese, also known as the “Cheeseman,” said the transition from high school to wrestling for one of the top D3 wrestling teams in the country “was hard and my teammates pushed the pace but even the intensity of the wrestling room could not prepare the Cheeseman for the level of competition ahead of him as his welcome-to-college-wrestling moment came in his first ever college match. Marchese was seeded 5th and his opponent was not even seeded. Marchese said he thought he had an easy win and underestimated his opponent and got “walked.” 

But the intensity of college sports is still prevalent regardless of the success of the program.

Dyvan Hevey is a first-year international student from Singapore who came to VTSU

Castleton to play on the basketball team that has struggled for years. Despite the team’s lack of success, he said the adjustment was huge.

“I’m still making adjustments. It’s hard” said Hevey, who comes from an Asian country where the average height is 5’6.”

He said he was a star on his team there and did not work as hard and treated basketball like a hobby, because he focused on other things like girls and being popular.

“No one back home could play basketball out here,” he said, his voice rising.

The intensity change is not the only thing freshman athletes go through when they get to college. They say there is also a mental aspect to it that comes with the transition as well.

Jordan Hill, a junior on the VTSU Castleton softball team, felt looked down upon because she was a walk-on for the team and felt like she was not on the same level as the upper- class students. The transition was very stressful for her.

Hill’s welcome-to-college moment come during her first game. She was playing first base and a ball was hit her way and she dropped it, leading to her getting yelled at by the coach making her even more stressed. But she brushed that off and quickly adjusted and became a starter the next season.

One of the biggest things high school athletes need to know about college sports is the level of commitment that comes with it.

Tien Connor is an assistant coach for the VTSU Castleton women’s lacrosse team, who talked about how everyone is good in college and in order to keep up with the competition you must be committed to succeed.

“You need to commit to your sport like it was your career,” Mike Lodge said.

VTSU Castleton baseball player Mike lodge went through a lot of struggles to the point where baseball did become like a job for him. 

“But I love it” said Lodge. 

Having to balance schoolwork, lifts and baseball was hard for him but he stayed with it and committed himself to the game, eventually earning a starting spot.

Regardless of sport or level, the transition from high school to college sports is never

easy and athletes say it will come with many trials and tribulations, but everyone is there for a reason and that is to continue to grow and get better.

“It becomes your life when you get to college,” said VTSU Castleton player Mike Malloy.