Re: Ambition — Sam Truman
August 22nd, 2008
Valparaiso was a lot like Brownsburg; same weather, same structure, and seemed like they had the same type of people. This was good in some ways but then again, I really wanted something different – hence how bad I wanted to leave the state for college.
But nonetheless, this place wasn’t at all bad. The athletic department had showed me and my family over to my new, fully paid for, apartment which was located just off campus. It was a nice place, small, but it would easily do me well for the next four years. A couple blocks away provided strips of restaurants and a few stores that I could access whenever I pleased. It was really great to know that’d I’d finally be on my own and not in the presence of my parents and siblings every day.
Speaking of my family, they were back on the road after trailing me to Valpo before they would say their final goodbyes as I officially moved out the house. It was tough to see them leave, honestly, they were no longer a bedroom away, instead, they were two hundred miles away. I’ll admit that I shed a short tear as I watched them walk out the building but now I was officially on the college grind. First step was to report to the freshman orientation that was being held at the campus auditorium.
Upon arrival I was accompanied of what I’d estimate to be about seven hundred freshman. I looked for some of my teammates but then again I couldn’t recognize any of them from their face so instead I looked for the tallest guys who stood out. I ended up finding one; he was about seven foot and told me his name was Ronni Weisse, knowing that allowed me to recall that he was the best player Coach Drew had recruited during the off-season.
“So where’d you come from?” I ask Ronni as we find a seats in the packed auditorium.
“Detroit,” he says while shaking his head. “It was rough out there, just glad I made it out. What about you, where you from?”
“Brownsburg, it’s just outside Indianapolis… I was only a one-star recruit, so I barely made it here. You’re supposed to be the best player of the roster right?”
“Somewhere up there, coach says I’m going to start so I think I got the opportunity… You can too, you walk a mile in my shoes you’d know you could do anything,” he says with a short pause.
We continue talking until eventually a proctor who announced himself as Mr. Byron came out on the stage and began with his upbeat speech that basically just gave all the newcomers an understandment of the campus and how everything worked. I began talking to a girl who sat next to me named Tessa, she told me she was all the way from California, she’d chosen Valpo because it was the alumni of her family.
Once Mr. Byron wrapped up the lengthy event, we were all dismissed out to the courtyard where another ginormous group of students stood awaiting us. Immediately they revealed boatloads of water balloons which were then thrown at us.
Ronni laughs, thankfully we were in the back of the crowd so it didn’t affect us as much, “Guess this is the consequence for being a freshman.”
“Yeah, guess so,” I say with a smirk. “We aren’t just freshman though, we’re student-athletes!”
August 22nd, 2008
Valparaiso was a lot like Brownsburg; same weather, same structure, and seemed like they had the same type of people. This was good in some ways but then again, I really wanted something different – hence how bad I wanted to leave the state for college.
But nonetheless, this place wasn’t at all bad. The athletic department had showed me and my family over to my new, fully paid for, apartment which was located just off campus. It was a nice place, small, but it would easily do me well for the next four years. A couple blocks away provided strips of restaurants and a few stores that I could access whenever I pleased. It was really great to know that’d I’d finally be on my own and not in the presence of my parents and siblings every day.
Speaking of my family, they were back on the road after trailing me to Valpo before they would say their final goodbyes as I officially moved out the house. It was tough to see them leave, honestly, they were no longer a bedroom away, instead, they were two hundred miles away. I’ll admit that I shed a short tear as I watched them walk out the building but now I was officially on the college grind. First step was to report to the freshman orientation that was being held at the campus auditorium.
Upon arrival I was accompanied of what I’d estimate to be about seven hundred freshman. I looked for some of my teammates but then again I couldn’t recognize any of them from their face so instead I looked for the tallest guys who stood out. I ended up finding one; he was about seven foot and told me his name was Ronni Weisse, knowing that allowed me to recall that he was the best player Coach Drew had recruited during the off-season.
“So where’d you come from?” I ask Ronni as we find a seats in the packed auditorium.
“Detroit,” he says while shaking his head. “It was rough out there, just glad I made it out. What about you, where you from?”
“Brownsburg, it’s just outside Indianapolis… I was only a one-star recruit, so I barely made it here. You’re supposed to be the best player of the roster right?”
“Somewhere up there, coach says I’m going to start so I think I got the opportunity… You can too, you walk a mile in my shoes you’d know you could do anything,” he says with a short pause.
We continue talking until eventually a proctor who announced himself as Mr. Byron came out on the stage and began with his upbeat speech that basically just gave all the newcomers an understandment of the campus and how everything worked. I began talking to a girl who sat next to me named Tessa, she told me she was all the way from California, she’d chosen Valpo because it was the alumni of her family.
Once Mr. Byron wrapped up the lengthy event, we were all dismissed out to the courtyard where another ginormous group of students stood awaiting us. Immediately they revealed boatloads of water balloons which were then thrown at us.
Ronni laughs, thankfully we were in the back of the crowd so it didn’t affect us as much, “Guess this is the consequence for being a freshman.”
“Yeah, guess so,” I say with a smirk. “We aren’t just freshman though, we’re student-athletes!”
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