Life of the Party?

Recruiting Horror Story: I Was Ditched For A Party

By Madeleine Lundberg|Updated on June 27, 2023 (originally published on February 7, 2023)

Come back every Tuesday for Recruiting Horror Stories™, athletes' first-hand stories on what can go wrong during the recruiting process.

For Katelyn*, the thought of spending the night at a college where she did not know anyone was scary. As a soccer recruit, she began to stay overnight at various schools after her high school season was over, and in February of her junior year she did her first overnight visit at one of her top schools. She loved the coach, but like anyone, she was intimidated by the thought of spending an entire night at an unfamiliar college. However, she knew it was an important part of the recruiting process, and after a fun and relatively relaxing first overnight experience, she decided she was ready to do another overnight in March.

However, this experience was nothing like the first…

Katelyn decided to do her second overnight stay on a Thursday–while she liked going to schools and meeting the girls, she wasn't exactly ready for the overwhelming experience of attending a college party so she thought a school night was a safe bet to avoid a potentially uncomfortable situation. She arrived at the school with her parents and met the soccer coach in the athletic department, who showed her around the athletic facilities and most importantly, the soccer field. The school was beautiful–Katelyn loved the location and could definitely envision herself in uniform playing on the field with her future teammates. She was feeling confident about her visit and was excited to meet the rest of the team.

So Far, So Good

When they returned to the coach's office, the coach introduced Katelyn to her overnight host Amanda* who was going to be taking her under her wing for the rest of her visit. While the coach discussed her itinerary, Katelyn couldn't help but notice that Amanda seemed incredibly disinterested and annoyed. While it concerned her some, Katelyn tried to ignore it–maybe she was just stressed about schoolwork, or had a lot on her mind. She wanted to give Amanda the benefit of the doubt, especially since it was quite possible she would be her future teammate.

Amanda brought Katelyn to her room so she could drop off her stuff, and on the walk over to the dorm, Amanda was relatively silent. Katelyn tried to ask her questions about the school, to which Amanda gave one word answers, and after a while Katelyn decided it was better to not bother her and so the two just walked in silence.

Katelyn felt so awkward. Was this what being on this team was going to be like??

A Turn For the Better?

However, as the afternoon progressed, Amanda began to warm up to Katelyn and by dinnertime the two were getting along great. Sitting in the school's main dining hall, the two peppered each other with questions and laughed about funny soccer moments they both experienced. As they were finishing up with dinner, Amanda was approached by one of her friends whom Katelyn did not recognize as a girl on the soccer team. “Amanda!” the mystery girl exclaimed, “you're definitely going out tonight right?” Amanda laughed. “You know it!” she responded gleefully.

Katelyn froze–this was not what she was expecting! After all, if she wanted to go out on her overnight visit, she would've chosen to visit on a Saturday. The two finished dinner and made their way back to Amanda's dorm, but Katelyn's anxiety about the night was only getting worse. She had a lot of homework to do and was hoping that she and Amanda would be spending the night in the library, not at a frat house! However, she didn't want to be a burden so she decided to keep her mouth shut.

As 9:30 rolled around, a group of Amanda's friends wandered into her room. “Come on Amanda, let's get ready!” they all exclaimed. Amanda laughed and looked over at Katelyn. “You're welcome to come out with us,” she said, and proceeded to throw on a sparkly blue top. “But,” she continued, “you can just stay in the library and I can pick you up on the way back if you want.” Katelyn jumped at the chance to stay back, packed her backpack, and headed over to the library.

Roles Reversed

Around midnight, Katelyn had finished all of her work and began watching Netflix. She hoped that Amanda would be back soon to bring her back to the room, but 12:30 rolled around and she had neither seen nor heard from Amanda. At 1:00, Katelyn was starting to worry–she was so tired, but could not get back into the dorm without a room key, and didn't even know how to get back. Finally, at 1:30 Amanda stumbled into the library. Katelyn could smell the alcohol on her breath, and her words slurred a little as called Katelyn over. The two finally made it back to Amanda's room at 1:45, but Katelyn still was not able to go to bed–she felt like she had to babysit Amanda, as she ran around to get her water and Advil.

In the morning, Amanda nursed her hangover from bed while Katelyn packed up her things. While Katelyn originally had liked the school, she hardly had gotten a sense of what it would be like to play soccer there because Amanda hadn't introduced her to any of the other soccer girls. She felt like it was a waste of an overnight visit and soon cut off communication with the school.

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