It’s completely normal that parents should experience a wide range of emotions before sending their precious child overseas. Ultimately by allowing their children to embark on a US collegiate experience, parents will be granting their child with an amazing opportunity to excel in their sporting and academic life.
Heather Patterson is mother to new NSR soccer recruit Monica. She shares her thoughts on supporting Monica through this incredible journey:
“I’m wishing that I was thirty years younger myself, and I had the opportunity there. It’s something that’s just not offered here. I’m still pretty shell-shocked about the whole idea. Monica wants to do physiotherapy, and there was every likelihood that she might have to go interstate next year. But now we’re sending her across the other side of the world! So it’s very exciting and very scary. The opportunities, and the experiences and everything she can gain from it is just incredible.”
Heather believes travel is vital for one’s development. “I did a fair bit of travelling myself when I was younger. I think you actually grow and learn a lot more about everything, seeing it through your own eyes. You’re on your own over there, and your family isn’t there to wrap you up in cotton balls.”
According to Heather, the NSR staff have provided a process that’s been “definitely nothing but positive”, with constant contact between staff and family.
“Always, we’re getting a letter asking us to come to an interview, and following up with a call or an email. Matt’s very impressive, he’s very excitable. He’s been really good and really supportive, and so has everyone else we’ve spoken to. Marco… it was lovely to meet him and do the interview with him. He was really great, he sat down and explained the day in the life of a college student, and it really made it a lot clearer.”
We wish Monica, and the Patterson family, all the very best on this exciting journey!