For many students, as their senior year of high school approaches, they are swimming in a sea of applications, stress, and indecision. Although Barnstable alumnus, Shannon-Kennedy Cabral and Kyle McShera, we certainly not exempt from the responsibilities of senior year, one thing shortly fortunately became certain for both of them; they would continue their athletic careers no matter where or at what level they ended up.

Kennedy-Cabral, who is now a freshman at Salve Regina University, has continued to pursue her volleyball career and plays on Salve’s women’s team. Before visiting the college, she was unsure of whether she wanted to play volleyball for the school or on a club team. All she knew was that she wanted to play. Once accepted, Kennedy-Cabral “looked into their team and wanted to play for them.”

McShera, a freshman at Colby-Sawyer College, did not always know that he wanted to play baseball at college either. “It was not until late in my junior year that it became a realistic possibility for me,” said McShera. However, McShera soon knew that he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity because just like Kennedy-Cabral, he wanted to continue his athletic career “regardless of where it was or at what level.”

For starters, it is important to know that a college sport definitely requires significant commitment. Kennedy-Cabral’s schedule generally consists of three games per week, practices on non-game days, and additional time spent in the weight room. In the Spring, her team also has offseason practices.

McShera’s baseball schedule is slightly different. During his team’s fall season, which lasts from September through October, they have four practices per week. However, once the real season approaches in February, there will be six practices per week. Like Kennedy-Cabral, McShera and his teammates are responsible for staying in shape during the offseason as the baseball players are expected to be in the weight room four to five times per week.

The commitment, however, is just a small fraction of playing a sport in college, which to Kennedy-Cabral, is outweighed by the benefits. “Some of the benefits I have experienced while being on a college sports team are the instant friends you make,” said Kennedy-Cabral Playing women’s volleyball requires getting to college about three weeks early for preseason. Due to this, early connections with teammates are able to be established and you can get to know some of the other athletes that arrived early for other sports as well.

McShera agreed that one of the greatest benefits he’s experienced in playing college baseball were the instant friendships. “It only took me about a week to solidify a group of friends that I knew I was going to stick with, and they are all on the team with me,” said McShera. McShera explained that playing a sport in college makes “finding your niche” at a new school stress-free.

Another factor of collegiate sports is recruitment. Kennedy-Cabral was recruited by the Salve Regina coach. “I filled out a prospect form which said what position I played, where I went to school, and my athletic and academic accomplishments,” said Kennedy-Cabral, “After that, the coach contacted me and came to watch me at a tournament over the winter.” Soonafter, Kennedy-Cabral was asked by the Salve volleyball coach to make the trip up to tryout for the team.

McShera was recruited for baseball as well from “a couple of Division 3 programs and one junior college.” Through tours with the coaches from these potential schools, and an overnight stay at Colby-Sawyer, McShera found that he enjoyed the dynamic of the Colby-Sawyer baseball team along with the coach the best out of any of his other options. This college is a Division 3 school, so they do not give athletic scholarships.

Kennedy-Cabral has some simple advice for anyone debating on whether to play a college sport or not. She urges, “Just give it a try.” At first, she explains that it’s understandable for someone look at it from the outside and make the assumption that “it will be too hard,” or the level of commitment will be too big. However, Kennedy-Cabral stressed that another benefit is that you “learn to balance school, sports, and social life,” and that there is always time to get schoolwork done during down-time.

On the other hand, McShera said that along with the increased workload of academics in college, adding baseball responsibilities on top of that also significantly increased the bulk of his already-busy schedule. “Be ready to be busy all of the time,” advised McShera, “Collegiate sports are definitely time consuming, and it takes serious time management skills to be able to pull it off.”

McShera explained the demanding nature of collegiate sports in the sense that “waking up early on the weekends for conditioning is never easy to do.” However, you eventually learn to balance the chaotic schedule of “always having something to do.”

Although McShera deemed playing baseball in college to often be “mentally and physically draining,” McShera said that the biggest benefit he has experienced through Colby-Sawyer baseball “is how much easier it makes going to college and getting acclimated to the new place you are living at.”

Along the same lines, Kennedy-Cabral compares her experience with Salve Regina University to Barnstable High School. “Coming into the high school as an eighth grader was so much easier because I had volleyball. This is just like eighth grade all over again. It helps you transition into school, and you’ll always have a piece of home with you,” said Kennedy-Cabral.