Like every freshman who goes to the Club Fair, Hayley signed up for all the ones that interested her. Currently, she’s a member of the Blue Hen Marketing Club, part of the layout design team for UDress Magazine, a UD Social Media Ambassador, as well as Club Tennis player.
Of course keeping up with all of these clubs and staying on top of homework would be a lot for anyone to handle, yet Hayley has persisted and proved she’s more than capable of it all. She admitted that fall semester was a bit of a rough adjustment from high school, but the club tennis team really helped her through it.
“Tennis helped the most. I gained the majority of my friends from the team and it’s been a great way to meet a lot of people. It’s the best decision I’ve made.”
Despite playing tennis all through high school, then touring D1 tennis colleges, Hayley knew she wanted to play club. With so much pressure that comes with being a D1 athlete, she made the choice to not completely give up her favorite sport.
“I knew I wanted to play; I didn’t want to stop. Club isn’t as intense as D1 — it’s the perfect amount of commitment and a good fit for me. So every school I was looking at, I made sure they had a club team,” Hayley said.
As far as her other extracurriculars go, Hayley makes sure to make time for what’s important. Sure, she’ll have to miss out on some meetings because of conflicting schedules or last minute get togethers, but she always puts what’s most important to her first.
“It’s all about balance. You can’t do 100% of anything, so sometimes I’ll give 80% to tennis and the other 20% to my other clubs. Sometimes the percentages change, but I make sure I’m never stretching myself too thin.”
With tryouts for the club tennis team held in August, Hayley wasn’t sure what to expect out of her upcoming freshman year. But, she knew she wanted to change her time management habits from high school. By joining all of these clubs and still making time for schoolwork, Hayley has forced herself to rearrange her schedule and set aside time for homework and time to enjoy other things.
“Clubs should be fun; if it’s a chore, I don’t want to go.”