Ruden Sports News

Westhill graduate Megan D’Alessandro (third from left) with her intramural teammates before a championship game in Gampel Pavilion.

By Emma Oyomba

There is nothing like playing for a packed gym or being on the field and seeing a sea of people rooting for your team. There is nothing like a buzzer-beating shot. There is nothing like the pain you feel after a loss or the happiness you feel after a win. There is nothing like the bond you form over time with your teammates and coaches. And there is certainly nothing like hearing “get on the line.”

The realization that I would not continue to play sports at the college level after graduating last year from Norwalk, where I played basketball and lacrosse, was a tough one but one that I was willing to come to terms with. After years of competing and two torn ACLs, I was burnt out. That factored in my decision to attend the University of Vermont.

And there are many other great athletes in the FCIAC that end up feeling the same. One in particular was Megan D’Alessandro, who is a sophomore accounting major at the University of Connecticut. The Westhill graduate was a standout athlete who played basketball and softball.

The decision to not play sports in college was not an easy one for either of us. “There were a handful of DII and DIII schools recruiting me. That made my decision really tough because I could have gone either way,” said D’Alessandro. And I sympathized with her because I knew that feeling all too well.

Emma Oyomba as a member of the Norwalk girls basketball team.

After a standout basketball game my junior year, I heard from the women’s basketball coach at Wesleyan University, which happens to be my brother’s alma mater. By spring of that same year, I was hearing from the women’s lacrosse coach as well. It didn’t help that I was being recruited for not one but two sports at the school my brother had just graduated from. And it put a lot of pressure on me. Throughout the summer and into the fall I was hearing from a handful of other schools as well. And to be quite honest, I had no interest in going to any of them.

“Why?” is a big question I always get and there are a lot of factors involved. The main one is academics. Which is another thing I shared with D’Alessandro. “In the end, I discussed it a lot with my parents and I decided to choose the school that would best help me focus on my academics,” she said. “Had I gone to any of the schools that recruited me for two sports, my academics would have probably suffered. I didn’t want to continue to deal with all of the added stress that came with being a student-athlete. After being at college for a year I am almost certain that training, conditioning, practicing and playing for not one but two seasons would have had me attempting to get the bare minimum in classes just to be eligible to play.

Westhill graduate Megan D’Alessandro heads upcourt during an All-Star game last year.

Also, after being in college for a year I now see how it would have been like, from the student perspective, had I played sports. I made a bunch of friends, some of whom are athletes. In one of my classes I sat next to a few and I silently laughed to myself because this potentially could have been me. They were so worn out from their morning lift that sometimes they fell asleep or didn’t come to class. Other times they missed class because they had a road game. Or they talked about how they dreaded what conditioning they were going to do later that day. Another player that sat behind me was literally aiming for the minimum grade in the class as long as he could still play.

Granted, they are not a representation of how all the athletes at my school or any school act in terms of academics, but it was still understandable. They were freshmen, this was their first college sports season and I’m sure they were not used to juggling all of it. But still, hearing them talk about all of the lifting, conditioning and practicing, especially in the frigid Vermont weather, made me really happy with my decision not to play.

In lieu of playing at the college level, D’Alessandro and I both played intramural sports while at school. This was a great alternative because although it was still competitive, it was fun and not a big time commitment. “Playing intramurals doesn’t take up too much of my time so I can still get all of my work done, which is what I was looking for,” said D’Alessandro.

Emma Oyomba blocks a shot during a game against rival Brien McMahon.

I went outside my element and played broomball (this didn’t end well), soccer and of course basketball. D’Alessandro on the other hand stuck with what she knew. “I did flag football and multiple basketball leagues including one co-ed season,” she said. “My intramural team made it to the championship and we played at Gampel, which is where the D1 teams play their home games.” It is actually weird how much we have in common because my co-ed team made it to the championship too, except we lost by six and I didn’t get to play on the same court where Kemba Walker and Maya Moore made history.

But, despite the playfulness of intramural sports, nothing compares to playing for a packed house and it is unfortunate that we are fans now, not players. “Going to watch the first couple of basketball games this year was tough, but luckily going to UConn, I was able to watch some pretty great games, and was able to get into it even from the stands,” said D’Alessandro.

I, too, look on the upside of things. I work for Campus Recreation, I am part of three sections of our award winning newspaper, I have time for friends, parties, intramural sports and I can work out whenever I want to. I am planning on studying abroad, which wouldn’t have been possible had I decided to play. And I am focusing on my internship in New York City for the summer instead of stressing over a training and conditioning book that I would have had to follow had I continued to play sports in college.

It is hard to realize that I don’t have a team or coaches that will be there literally all of the time but I like what came out of my decision and D’Alessandro feels the same. “At the beginning of first semester I was skeptical about my decision, but I realized that I had made the right decision for myself, and I am content with it,” she said.