Chapter 6: The Cycle of Transition for Student-Athletes to College

Each spring, letters like these signify to students all across America that their lives will be changed forever. Hope springs eternal from the words “you have been accepted!” Hope has welled up over time, from the first presentation about college in middle school to the time when their path is finally set in motion. The future is bright and promises to be filled with energy, excitement, joy, and most certainly, transition.

Numerous researchers have studied the transition process that new college students experience. This process is usually defined as the pre-enroll-ment phase through the matriculation phase and concludes at the end of the freshman year (Perigo & Upcraft, 1989). This chapter attempts to quantify what that experience is like for an entering freshman. The life cycle ofa college freshman is examined through five stages: Getting Started, Communications, Precollege Programs, Transition and Belonging, and Surviving the First Year. Through personal examples and theoretical support, the chapter aims to provide educators with a better understanding of this life cycle in order to help them develop approaches that support new studentathletes at various stages.