<p>There is so much I want to say in this question but I am going to regurgitate everything that is on my mind right now so please bare with me. I am a United States citizen attending college in Canada. I play Varsity Men’s Volleyball and I am a full time student. I want to pursue a career in Athletic Training, Physical Therapy or at least a job in the Kinesiology field. Come January of 2011 I was approached by a coach at the University of Windsor. He was well dressed and had a thick Canadian accent. He was really impressed with my abilities and said I would make a great asset on his team. He said the university had a superior Human Kinetics (Kinesiology) program and tuition was fairly cheap compared to the states. He sold the university really well to my parents and made it sounds like it was the right place for me. I went for a visit 2 weeks later and kinda liked what I saw, only because I was fascinated at the time of getting a chance to play volleyball at the next level. I forgot to mention my parents kind of forced me to make my decision; I had little say in where I really wanted to go. At the time I just wanted to play volleyball in college and wasn’t thinking about anything else because my life in high school revolved around volleyball. Volleyball was my life. I was a first team all-conference selection since my sophomore year, player of the year in my conference and region, and a first team all-state selection my senior year. I hold almost every record at my school and was the conference leader in almost every stat. I played 4 years of club volleyball competing at the Open Junior Olympic National Championships. I also played for the Ohio Valley Region High Performance team and won the Silver Medal at High Performance Nationals 2 years in a row. With my parents looking at college choices for me they became obsessed with the University of Windsor and me getting an international degree, playing volleyball in college and getting a good education. My parents especially my dad lived vicariously through me, constantly bragging to their friends about how well I am doing and that I am playing a sport in college. All my dad would ever talk about with me was volleyball, every day after school or practice or at the dinner table. Trying to shorten this up Im going to jump to my university experience.
I live in an apartment by myself with no meal plan and $50 a week to live off of. (The bare minimum pretty much that I can have to attend this school). With being a varsity athlete and receiving no money from the school for food I had little to eat and ate maybe once a day. With that said I am very unhealthy and suffered all season with deficiencies in my diet. The neighbors down stairs are heavy smoker, cigarettes and weed… my whole house including my clothes smell like smoke. I HATE smoking might I add. Because of them I have developed asthma and have to use an inhaler for the first time in my life.
I am in an honors human kinetics program at the University of Windsor which means Im taking second year courses in Canadian university in my first year. Going to college for the first time in any institution is challenging enough, but to be in a honors program in Canada coming from high school in united states is a HUGE education gap. It was extremely hard for me to adapt to the new culture and catch up. Especially while trying to manage school with playing a varsity sport. In Canada sport seasons start in early august and dont end until mid-march, and in that time I have 3 hour practices every single day and games on weekends. I never get any time to get a break or go home, and with what little spare time I have I spend on school work. The only time I got to go home was for Christmas break. My break was 4 days long before I had to go back and start practicing again.
I have separated my shoulder 3 times in the past and have had tendonitis in my achilles tendon, shoulder and my knees (jumpers knee) ever since my freshman year of high school. I practically lived in physical therapy rehab which lead to me wanting to pursue a career in sports medicine.
I had a 42 inch vertical entering college and after just 2 months of training and playing I was down to a 28. We do not do any weight lifting during the season and condition with circuit training twice a week for an hour right before practice. I tried getting help from my athletic trainers at my school but they never really diagnosed me with anything, all they would do is massage my back or maybe give me some electric stimulation treatment, it never did anything. I was not much of a priority because I was not a starting athlete. I went to practice every day and went to every game for the rest of the season with back pain and stiff joints. I was told I was going to play when I came to university but with the training and poor treatment I received and the injuries I was worse of a player now than I have been ever since I started playing volleyball. I am not tall, Im only 60 and 180IBS and not having my jumping ability has made me become an average player. I do not have the competitive advantage that I have had in my career.
After the season I went and saw a doctor, the doc told me I had sprains in my SI joint and Lumbar Spine and that I had been playing all season with them. He also told me to get an EKG on my heart and for me to do some blood testing to see what I am deficient in.
To cut this short, I am in the worst shape of my life after a year of playing a varsity sport in college, I hate the University I am at, I have no friends up here, I get no phone service because its international and too expensive to use, I have no school pride and hate where I am going, I want to transfer to the school of my dreams that if I didnt want to play volleyball in college I would be at right now. Miami University, I want to join the Athletic Training program there and play club volleyball and focus more on my Education because I am on Academic Probation here at my current university and am hating life lol. My parents wont let me transfer and are forcing me to stick it out here for 4 more years. Should I stick it out or Transfer, I really need some advice and help. Thank you!</p>
<p>Speaking as a mom,with a son who is a collegiate athlete,you need to transfer. It is clear you are very unhappy where you are and would like to be at the other school. Parents cannot continue to live vicariously through their children’s accomplishments forever and it is high time your parents figured this put.</p>
<p>It sounds like to me that you need to try and get out. You are having such a hard time in so many different areas that it seems like there is no way that it will get better. Trying to eat on 50 bucks a month is just plain silly. Since you are an athlete and not an 80 pound anorexic girl, it actually sounds dangerous. I can’t imagine that your parents would be OK with that part of the deal.</p>
<p>Is there a possibility that you can get into the Miami school? Do you know what you need to do to make it happen? Will you have to depend on your parents to pay for everything? You need to stand up and make your own decisions at some point in life and it sounds like it might be now. While your parents are highly desirous of you staying there for the next four years it sounds like that is not even remotely possible. </p>
<p>Take whatever steps that you need to to transfer and let your parents know in a responsible fashion how you plan on proceeding. If you feel quite certain that you will be able to do well at the school that you want to go to then try to make it happen. You might want to actually get accepted before you start this battle though.</p>