In the world of collegiate sports the love of the game is always questioned. Do I play Division I basketball and go to school for free? Or sacrifice student loans to play the game that I love? Many student- athletes ask this question to themselves when choosing what school is best for them. Other student-athletes put their future into perspective. Do I choose a school with great academics and an ok sports team or a great sports team with ok academics?
Lauren Vassallo, chose playing the sport she loved at a Division III school. Lauren first began playing basketball at the age of ten. Growing up, she always followed in her brothers footsteps. If her brother picked up a basketball and started shooting so did she. Playing hoops in her yard motivated her to try out for her middle school team, high school team, AAU, and soon college.
Lauren found the perfect school for her at Emerson College. A school with a great journalism program and one with a basketball team that she could immediately impact. After speaking with the head coach at Emerson she was convinced she would be moving to Boston. Sadly, she was rejected and had to settle for her second choice school Colby-Sawyer College. There, she would play for a better basketball program with a winning history and settle for the mediocre journalism program. After her first year she had made great friends and had a lot of fun but on the court she wasn’t getting the playing time she had hoped for.
She would soon transfer to Emerson College and make the impact on the court that she had hoped for a year earlier. “Coming to Emerson I knew their program wasn't as strong as CSC's but I knew I would get more playing time which is all I wanted,” Vassallo said.
Now, Lauren Vassallo has just finished a successful three years of basketball at Emerson College. With three different coaches at the collegiate level she has become a great basketball player but more importantly a great leader. In her last two seasons with the basketball team Vassallo was coached by Bill Gould. He describes her as “a hard working and conscientious player and a good low post scorer and a good rebounder”.
Gould is very complimentary of Vassallo. “She’s an asset because she always wants what’s best for the team, she leads by example, and she communicates well with the players and coaches,” he said.
Vassallo ends her career at Emerson with many supporters. Teammate Maude Okrah said, “LV is the greatest example of a passionate and unselfish leader. She always puts the team first and sometimes sacrifices her own individual accomplishments for the sake of the team.”
Through it all Vassallo has learned many things on and off the court that have surpassed wins and losses.
“The best thing I've learned from being a college athlete is how to keep things in perspective. Playing sports and being competitive has always been a huge part of my life and has almost surpassed everything else I've had, including family. But in my four years of college I've gone through ups and downs that I realize they are more important than basketball."
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