Chadwick Hixon is a former student-athlete (Emory University ‘10) who was both a 2x JUCO All-American (Oxford College) and D3 standout (Emory U.).

In this episode of the Student-Athlete Sessions, Chadwick discusses his college athletics recruiting process, playing in the UAA, how he navigated his transition to the working world, the impact that going D3 has had on his life, and much more.

Get to Know Chadwick:
All-time leading scorer at Oxford College of Emory
Undergrad Major: Political Science
Masters in Higher Ed & Leadership
Working as an Academic Advisor at Emory

What we discussed in the episode:
How recruiting has changed as a process
Alternative paths to college (ex. JUCO)
Why good grades matter in recruiting
The UAA athletic experience

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Tyler O'Shea is a former D3 student-athlete (McDaniel College ‘17) who defied the odds to not only play college baseball - but finish his career as an All-Conference standout.

In this episode of the Student-Athlete Sessions, Tyler discusses his underdog mentality, challenges faced during his athletics recruiting process, strategies he used to earn playing time, how he started his own media brand, and much more.

As mentioned during our conversation, here’s a video of Tyler’s 1st College Home Run.

Some Background on Tyler:
Cut from his middle school baseball team
Limited recruiting process
Fewest errors in the conference as a SR
Goes on to earn All-Conference honors
Founder of JokerMag - 40,000+ monthly readers

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As always, let us know who we should interview next or questions you want us to ask future guests.

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Chelsie Schweers is a former student-athlete (Christopher Newport University ‘11) who was the D3 National Player of the Year and more recently was named to D3Hoops.com All-Decade Team.

In this episode of the Student-Athlete Sessions, Chelsie discusses her college athletics recruiting process, how she got her start playing professional basketball overseas, what she got up to during COVID, and much more.

Some Background on Chelsie:
4x NCAA D3 All-American
4x 1st Team All-Conference
3x Conference Player of the Year
D3 Final Four in 2011
CNU Women’s basketball all-time leading scorer (2869 Points)
2011 D3 Women’s National Player of the Year

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For more reliable D3 recruiting and admissions info, check out what we’re up to on other platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. We’re here to help - so ask away!

Kendall Sosa is a former student-athlete (Illinois Wesleyan ‘21) who was the 2021 NCAA D3 National Player of the Year and more recently was named a recipient of the NCAA Top 10 Award.

In this episode of the Student-Athlete Sessions, Kendall shares advice from her own D3 recruiting experience, how she handled finishing her career during COVID, developing career interests during college, and much more.

Some Background on Kendall:

Marketing Major
Averaged nearly 27 points as a Senior
2021 College SID’s of America First Team Academic All-American
2021 finalist for the 2021 Division III Honda Athlete of the Year
2021 First Team All-America by both the WBCA and D3Hoops
2021 CCIW's Most Outstanding Player
Unanimous 2x First Team All-CCIW selection
5x CCIW Player of the Week recipient

So in short - she had quite the on-court career.

What impressed us even more about Kendall was what her teammates and coaches had to say about who she was as a person. Here was one of our favorites from IWU Head Women's Basketball Coach Mia Smith:

"Her skills on the basketball court were amazing and her highlight reel is one that I can watch over and over again - especially the 47 point performance at Millikin. As much as she brought to the court, what she brought unrelated to basketball was even more impressive. Her growth from freshman year to her senior year was fun to watch. If we gave an award for all-time best teammate, it would be Kendall."

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Ashley Yu is a former student-athlete (Hunter College '19) who is making in-roads in the world of college coaching.

In this episode of the Student-Athlete Sessions, Ashley shares advice from her own D3 recruiting experience, how she handled graduating during COVID, her 2021-22 season outlook for Dominican Women's Basketball, and much more.

MEET ASHLEY
Gender Studies Major
3x Captain of Hunter College WBB
Former coach with City College of New York
Current Asst. Coach with Dominican University in Illinois

Inside the Episode w/ Ashley Yu (Hunter College ‘19)

In this wide-ranging episode with Ashley we discuss topics like:

Why Grades Matter for NCAA D3 Financial Aid

"Now that I'm going through the recruiting process at Dominican, you see how much your GPA plays into what [Financial aid packages] you can get."

Coach Ashley Yu on CUNYAC financial aid for NY in-state residents and what she's learned about the importance of recruits having a good GPA.

How to Build a Strong Team Culture

Here's what Ashley Yu emphasized during her 3 years as a captain with the Hunter College Women's Basketball team (NCAA Division III) that helped turn the program around:

Wanting to be around each other
Wanting to work hard
Wanting to compete
Learning from mistakes

How to Get Recruited to Play D3 Sports

Here's how she got recruited to play college basketball and how she decided that Hunter College, a D3 school in NY, was the right fit for her.

& Much More! 

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We’re back with another episode of the Student-Athlete Sessions! This week’s interview is a conversation with Coach Ryan Mee of Vassar College Men's Basketball.

In this wide-ranging episode we discuss topics like:
D1 vs. D3 scrimmages
Keys to a successful recruiting process
Building a coaching network
Lessons learned as a D1 assistant (6+ years at Davidson College)
Advice to future student-athletes

Inside the Episode w/ Coach Ryan Mee (Rochester ‘05)

Ryan Mee (Rochester ‘05) is a former D3 student-athlete turned D3 Head Coach with Vassar College.

During his time as a Student-Athlete, Coach Mee made 4 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, went a combined 97-17, and was part of the winningest class in program history - just to name a few accomplishments.

Prior to taking the head job with Vassar, Coach Mee was an assistant at both the D3 and D1 level - including 6 years at Davidson College under Bob McKillop. “During his time at Davidson, the Wildcats earned three NCAA Tournament bids along with being part of a staff that earned Atlantic 10 Coaching Staff of the Year in 2014-15. Mee helped mentor 14 Wildcat players that earned either Southern Conference or Atlantic-10 yearly honors, while also helping assist three conference Players of the Year and an A-10 Rookie of the Year this past season in Kellan Grady” (via Vassar Athletics)

We caught up with Coach Mee just before Vassar’s 2021-22 season got started with a game against Elizabethtown. Although the Brewers dropped their first two games of the season, they bounced back with three straight wins and currently sit at 3-2.

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Welcome to the Student-Athlete Sessions, where you get the entire, unscripted conversation between us and our guests each week as we tackle a new topic in the world of Division 3 Sports. This week’s interview is from our conversation with Nikhil Panu, founder of Squadz.

As always, let us know if you have any questions you want us to ask future guests and we’ll be sure to work them into our next interview.

Inside the Ep. - Nikhil Panu (JHU ‘17)

Nikhil Panu (Johns Hopkins ‘17) is a former Division 3 student-athlete turned entrepreneur. As the founder of Squadz, an app designed to help people discover sports activities & venues around them, Nikhil has been able to combine his passion for sport and his computer science major from JHU.

In this episode, Nikhil walks us through his own D3 sports recruiting journey that led him to Johns Hopkins as well the camps and strategies he used to land college offers.

He shares advice for D3 college visits and what he did on his visit to Johns Hopkins with the team that actually convinced him to attend.

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