DyeStat Scholar

The Olympians of Dallas!

My trips are now over and soon I will make my college decision. I am reminded of the famous scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in which Harrison Ford is asked by the old knight to "Choose, but choose wisely!" If poor Harrison made the wrong choice, he would dissolve into dust. Luckily, I can't make a bad choice! My choices are amazing. I've seen large, medium, and small universities, both public and private, but each has earned a powerful academic and athletic reputation. The coaches are dedicated and skilled. I feel very fortunate to have such choices.

Do you have any favorites so far? When I ask my parents to tell me their favorites, they respond by singing the 'fight songs' of schools I haven't even talked to! That's very funny, especially when they make up the words. I know that they just want me to decide for myself. They'll listen and help me through the process in the days ahead, but I'm the one who has to make the decision.

This weekend I flew to Dallas via Los Angeles to meet with a world famous coach. Coach W met me at the airport and we had a good chance to get acquainted. My dad warned me that THIS coach would be watching my nutrition so I shouldn't expect anything too fattening. Dad was right. I could see that if I went to this university, my burrito and nacho days would be over! Yikes! But we did go to Planet Hollywood in downtown "Big D", which was fun. They had a bunch of memorabilia from different movies. Coach W has a nice relationship and a friendly rapport with his athletes, many of whom have come from all over the world just to work with him. I don't think I have seen so many Olympians and ex-Olympians ever in one place before. It was an awesome and humbling experience.

The University is private and has a total student body not much larger than my first high school. It is located in an urban setting, and the architecture is beautiful and stately. There is also a lot of construction on campus which I think is a positive sign that the university is still able to grow and 'invest' in their future. I had a chance to visit a biology class. It was much more advanced than my high school classes, but I understood most of what was going on, which was reassuring. It was a relatively small class, too, which I liked.

I watched the throwers' weight training workout and the guys were very impressive. I kidded them about having "only" 650 lbs. at each of their squat rack locations. They laughed and told me that they 'believed' my lifts, but just hadn't gotten around to 'accepting it' in their minds yet. They certainly were committed and slackers would not last long here! Their attitude is easy to understand, because when your goal is to be the best in the world, you expect a more serious approach to training from yourself and your teammates. They showed me their conference championship rings, each set with big diamonds. Wow! They are an awesome group.

Texans love their football and I do too (to watch, NOT to play!). Unfortunately, the football team was on the road, so I didn't get to see a game. They have a beautiful new football stadium. It has great stairs in the stadium for doing my sprints and plenty of room to do bear crawls!

I arrived home late Saturday night. My scheduled flight out of LA was canceled, but I managed to get on the next one. I am happy that I have at least one day left of my weekend. I am giving myself the next week to make my decision. Whatever decision I make, I know it will be the right one for me. To be honest, I could be happy at any of the schools I was fortunate enough to be invited to visit. However, I want to make a commitment now, so I can concentrate on having a great track season!

In the meantime, I've added something to my training--Coach Dad signed Mom and me up for membership in a gym. We take step aerobics and other classes together, which is fun. Dad's pretty tricky--it's a women-only gym, so he has a good excuse for not going! The point is to improve my speed and flexibility. My Mom, who is a psychologist, says that aerobics reduce stress, too. I'm going to need a little stress reduction while I choose my school!