Adjusting to college life as a freshman is not the easiest task; student-athletes can accumulate high levels of stress during their first couple of years due to lots of responsibility.

Academics and athletics take up the most amount of time for any student-athlete. Redshirt freshmen football athletes Victor Gamboa, Nic Sblendorio, freshmen football player Terence Grady, golf athlete Kimberlie Miyamoto and soccer player Savannah Hoekstra all explained how their experiences are going so far at Eastern, both academically and athletically.

Hoekstra, who was honored on Sept. 23 with both the Big Sky Conference offensive player of the week and the College Sports Madness player of the week, is enjoying life at Eastern so far.

“It’s good because I’m living in the dorms and I’m close to everything,” Hoekstra said. “It’s different being away from home.”

Both of her player of the week honors stemmed from her performance against Colorado State University where she scored two goals to give the Eagles the win 2-0. Hoekstra has started in all six matches for EWU.

While attending Eastern, Hoekstra wants to study nursing. As a student she wants to be able to dedicate an equal amount of time to each of her classes.

Grady, who plays wide receiver for the Eagles, is getting accustomed to life at Eastern as well.

“I love it, when I first got here I didn’t really know what to expect, especially when it came to football,” Grady said. “But, I’ve been here for a few months. Ever since I’ve got here, I’ve gotten acclimated to the system and everything. I love it; it’s addicting, honestly.”

Grady’s goal is to play in the NFL, however he has another plan if professional sports do not work out.

“I’m thinking about studying criminal justice,” Grady said. “Maybe going into some kind of like government agency field, CIA, FBI, DEA, something like that.”

Although both athletes were attending Eastern last year, redshirt freshmen Sblendorio and Gamboa are currently competing for the first time this season. Both are finally experiencing collegiate competition.

“It’s good, it’s a lot slower this year,” Sblendorio said. “I got a good grasp on the offense now. I’m a lot smarter this year; I’ve learned from good leaders above me.”

“The players are a lot bigger, a lot faster,” Gamboa said. “The speed is a lot faster too. When you’re out there playing, it’s more of like a mental thing. You’ve got to get your head right because everything’s moving so quick that you’ve got to know exactly what you’re doing.”

Sblendorio, who plays wide receiver, is currently leading all freshmen in yards per game on the football team with 19.5. As far as academics, Sblendorio is still searching for the right department.

“I’m undecided right now, after college [I’m] looking to get into coaching probably,” Sblendorio said.

Gamboa, who is currently a defensive back for Eastern, is thinking about majoring in psychology. After college he wants to play football professionally. “My main goal is the NFL,” Gamboa said. “My back up plan is with psychology, I might want to become a child therapist or something like that.”

Miyamoto is currently fitting in at Eastern and is enjoying her new golf team.

“It’s been really great, I really liked all that kind of orientation stuff,” Miyamoto said. “It was kind of sad because I missed a few: I was traveling for golf. Eastern is really welcoming. The people on my floor, we all felt really comfortable and it was easy to adjust.”

Miyamoto is contemplating studying secondary education because of her admiration of leadership. She wants to be able to help students coordinate school events. She views secondary education as the right career path she wants to pursue.

While attending and competing for Eastern, these freshmen expect to learn new things and grow as well.

“One of the things that I want to be able to do is understand the system,” Grady said pertaining to football. “I want to get to that point where I don’t have to think so much about what I have to do.”
“I really want to learn how to manage more of my time because I was kind of bad at that,” Miyamoto said. “My goal is to just support my team and be there as much as possible and always participate in everything.”