Each year Shorewood has a group of athletes that go on to pursue their talents in college. Among these are athletes that choose to play at the 2-year junior college level. Opportunities at this level are no lesser than opportunities to play at a NCAA Division 1, 2, or 3 level, yet many people do not know that much about playing college sports at a Junior College (JUCO). 

Three seniors shared the differences in their processes and decisions to attend and play at a JUCO. Riley Wheaton, who will be attending Grays Harbor College in Aberdeen and playing softball, was given the opportunity and chose to take it.“I chose to play at a Juco mainly because that was really the only option that I was given. I never really reached out to coaches to have them come look at me play during tournaments since I wasn’t sure if I wanted to play in college or not. I got lucky in January when my college coach expressed interest in me during a tournament. I could have not accepted the offer and hoped to get a higher division offer over the summer, but I decided it was best to take what I was given and not wait and hope for another offer,” she said. 

Tysey Tanimura, who will play golf at Columbia Basin College, also went through a similar decision process. “I have a few friends that go to school there and they just recommended that it was really good, and I met the coach. I loved the facility, I loved the area, I just wanted to play golf there… I’ve been playing since I was like 10 so I’ve wanted to play in college for a long time,” he said.

Lots of athletes also choose JUCO not only because of the opportunities that it presents for the two years, but also the potential it offers afterwards. Rory Swanson, will be playing baseball at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, WA. Rory chose a JUCO because of this reason “It was either a D3 or a Juco, and I knew JUCO was probably better because I wanted to go D1 afterwards, and D3 to D1 is harder,” he said. This is a fairly common goal among JUCO baseball players, in fact, according to a survey of 350+ JUCO baseball players done by The College Baseball Hub, more than 33% of them had gone on to play at the D1 level.

Wheaton and Tanimura also echoed these goals. “I will try to transfer to a 4-year university like UW. If I do decide to continue playing, I want to try and transfer to a D3 or D2 school,” said Wheaton. “If I do really good then I’ll transfer somewhere else, like D1 or D2” said Tanimura.  

Although these schools are great opportunities for athletes who wish to continue playing their sports, there is still a lot that people don’t know about them. Swanson wishes that people knew of the high level of competition available at the JUCO level. “I think at least for baseball it’s not like less, it’s still hard competition. I’ve got some people who are talking trash about playing at a JUCO, but it’s still like very good competition and prepares you well for higher levels,” he said.  Wheaton just hopes that people know they have opportunities if they want them. “Something that I wish people knew about playing sports at college is that if you want to, you can. There are so many teams, at so many different levels of competition, that if you wish to continue playing in college, there will be a spot for you somewhere.”