On September 2, Megan Landry posted an article to her blog titled “7 Reasons To Pursue Your Dream of Being a College Athlete”. The article was reposted on a variety of social media platforms and was shared over 2,000 times.

Megan was a three-sport athlete in high school. While she enjoyed playing on the court with both her basketball and volleyball teams, her position on the pitching mound was by far her favorite place to be. During her senior season at Central Catholic, Megan led the Lady Eagles to a Class 1A state title in Louisiana. Following the game, Landry was named to the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 1A All-State Team and brought home the Most Valuable Player award. Following her freshman year at Nicholls State University in Louisiana, Megan was named to the Honorable Mention All-Southland team for the Southland Conference.

As Megan begins her second year at Nicholls State University in Louisiana, she prepares for her second season as a pitcher for the Colonels softball team. Megan has committed to not only becoming a better softball player this year, but to becoming a more influential blogger as well.

Megan began writing for The Odyssey earlier this summer when one of her teammates invited her to join a writing team. Within this community, each member is responsible for writing an article each week and can write about anything.

“I have always loved to write,” said Landry, “so when the opportunity to write about any topic appeared, I did not hesitate to jump on the opportunity.”

Megan's inspiration for this particular article came about after her team ran their conditioning test – a common requirement for NCAA programs. Megan was moved by the energy and excitement created by the team's success following this test, and wanted to share the experience with her readers.

“I can't even begin to explain how I felt this morning after we passed our conditioning test,” Landry said. “I want current high school athletes to understand how rewarding this experience can be.”

Since the release of this article, Megan has received a variety of responses. Both current athletes and prospective high school athletes have reached out to Megan, sharing their own stories and discussing how Megan's advice has had a positive impact on their thoughts about pursuing their collegiate dreams.

“Readers have given me so much positive feedback. Many readers have tagged others and started new conversations encouraging friends to consider playing at the collegiate level, all because of my article.” Landry said, “It gives me goose bumps.”

When Megan decided to begin writing for The Odyssey she did not expect it to have such an immense impact on her everyday life. While she saw her articles as a great outlet to express thoughts and ideas, the reality of her influence exceeded her expectations.

“Blogging has allowed me to reflect even deeper on college athletics,” Landry said. “I am able to appreciate my time as a collegiate athlete more because of it.”

Megan's journey to her current status as a collegiate athlete was a unique one. After tearing her ACL in the summer following her junior year, Megan missed six months of softball. This experience had a very interesting effect on Megan's recruiting process as it delayed her ability to get recruited, but furthered her passion for the sport and her decision to play at the collegiate level. In the months following her injury, Megan committed to rehabbing her knee and guaranteeing a healthy recovery, in hopes of returning to the playing field before the recruiting season was over. Megan's grit and determination paid off as she recovered just in time to be picked up by Nicholls State University.

“The long months between my injury and my recovery made me realize that I love softball and wanted to play it for as long as possible,” Landry said. “I was recruited late, so the coaches put a lot of faith in me when they decided to recruit me. I am forever grateful for the opportunity that have given me.”

As you can see in Megan's “7 Reasons To Pursue Your Dream of Being a College Athlete” article, she is always willing to share advice about the collegiate sports world based on her experiences. Yet, there is one piece of advice that she believes trumps all the rest—start early!

“Explore as many opportunities as possible and explore them early,” Landry said. “I'm not saying you need to make your decision as a freshman in high school, but make sure you are informed about a variety of schools early so that when it comes time to make your decision, you can pick the perfect school for you.”

Megan also believes that it is important to take advantage of every tool possible when participating in the collegiate recruiting process. There are hundreds of options out there and the more tools you take advantage of, the easier it will be.

Megan's blog.

* Originally published on September 30, 2016, by Bryan Sosoo