TOWAMENCIN  – Many athletes grow up dreaming of playing collegiate sports. Few make it, but those who do have a very different process of applying to college. While many seniors are actively going through the application process and have no clue where we are going, senior Laura Albert is already verbally committed to Bloomsburg University to play field hockey next year. 

Albert found her love for field hockey at a young age and was inspired and motivated by her older sister who also played. 

“I started playing because my sister was playing. I first started with youth league, I think it was eight or nine right at Christopher Dock. We would go on Sundays in the fall, we would play,” Albert explained. 

While the origin of her love for the sport was from her sister, she was on her own during the recruitment process. Sending out emails and showing interest was mostly on her. 

“The coaches and the whole process of it, they want it to be through the player,” Albert shared.

On June 15th everything changed for Laura.

“Field hockey recruitment starts at the end of your sophomore year on June 15th, so when that day hits it’s so chaotic and you’re freaking out. You don’t know what’s going to happen and who is going to email you,” Albert explained. 

From then on, her life was a big bubble with all her options floating around her. 

“I sent out letters of interest to every single person, and then once I got further into my process I went to recruiting clinics and camps, then I narrowed down your list. Once I built connections with coaches, that’s when they started unofficially offering me visits and then offering official visits, I was offered a few from a different institutions,” Albert described. 

Of course Albert received many offers, her top two were narrowed down to Bloomsburg University and Lehigh University. When deciding she had to find a school that held the same values as her and she found that at Bloomsburg University. 

“I feel like the communities have some shared principles of respect, love, competition, and admiration for each other,” Albert said. 

While the recruitment process can be intimidating and scary, everyone’s process is different and their own. Albert is confident in her decision and is totally going to score next year at Bloomsburg.