Swirling Worlds: EP.5 - Chloe Spardlin

When graduating high school and taking that next step to pick a college, every kid wants to select the best college for them. Most of the time, the first option is the best academically, but for an athlete, we want the best for our craft and academics. For instance, Chloe Spradlin did not start her college career and soccer journey at Piedmont University. Spardlin is a senior mass communications and sports communications double major at Piedmont University and a Piedmont women’s soccer team member. Spradlin began college as a freshman at the University of Montevallo, a Division 2 school in Alabama. Why leave a Division 2 school where you are on scholarship for a Division 3 school that can't give you any money?

During the interview with Spradlin, I asked her why she came to Piedmont University when she entered the transfer portal and was looking for a new college to continue her career. "When I was in the transfer portal, I was struggling to find a school, and I was in this phase where I wanted to stay Division 2 because I had looked down on Division 3 athletics," said Spradlin. "I had a friend that went here and played soccer, so I emailed the head coach, and when I came on tour, I just knew that I was going to be a lion." Transferring to a new school as a student-athlete is a huge life decision that takes a lot of time to figure out. With the accessibility of the transfer portal, college athletes can be a part of a "free agency market" and choose whichever college they would like to continue their careers at, which helps them in the process. The hardest decision for a student-athlete about leaving their current school to transfer out has to be the fear of breaking the bonds they have made with their teammates, coaches, or even the community at their current school.

"I really thrive on having a relationship with my professors and being able to talk to them one-on-one in a secluded environment," said Spradlin when I asked her how she think she would have faired being a student at Stanford University, her dream school. "I'm pretty sure their student-to-teacher ratio is about 300 to one or even 500 to one, and I just don't think I would have been successful there." As most students at Piedmont would tell you, they love the smaller classes and being able to talk to their teachers and have a relationship with them. However, it would be different if they were at a Division 1 institution because the class sizes would be ten times bigger.

Is there a time where you felt like the University you're at wasn't the right fit for you anymore, how did you go about handling that feeling?