Not discouraged by going to a smaller school, OIT star Harrison Steiger enjoys his quieter life
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (BVM) – Some people dream their whole life to play sports beyond high school. Whether it be football, basketball or baseball, male athletes in high school usually want to go to a Division I school, play in front of the biggest crowds and play for national championships. Of course, this was also Harrison Steiger鈥檚 dream. He had offers to play football at Air Force, with that also coming some service time for the Air Force Academy.
鈥淚 thought I was a better football player than a basketball player, for sure,鈥� Steiger, who also pointed out that he got offered to be a walk-on at Boise State but that was a little too out of his comfort zone, said. 鈥淚 wanted to go somewhere where I knew I would play, and that opportunity just wasn鈥檛 exactly for me.鈥�
Even though he knew that he was a better football player, Steiger knew that he should take the best opportunity in front of him. This led him to his decision to commit to playing basketball at Oregon Institute of Technology.聽
鈥淚 hardly pay for much of my school, mainly because my scholarships take care of that end of the school part.鈥澛�
With his decision to go to a smaller school and get most of his school paid for, that decision also came with losing a lot of main contact with his friends.聽
鈥淪eeing a lot of my friends go to Oregon State and University of Oregon, joining fraternities and sororities, seeing them making a ton of new friends from all over, having so much free time to do so many more things, that definitely made me jealous,鈥� Steiger said. 鈥淚 was stuck getting up really early a lot of days, I didn鈥檛 have as much free time as my other friends at other schools had, and that really discouraged me at first.鈥�
He also acknowledged that even though it may have been rough at first, he knows now that it may have been the better decision for him in the end after all.
鈥淎lthough winter break 海角社区 meeting back up with my friends gave me a lot of 鈥榝ear-of-missing-out,鈥� I knew that I was bettering myself everyday, and that a smaller school was definitely the right move for me,鈥� Steiger said.
Steiger also mentioned that choosing a smaller school in a smaller city helped him focus on himself more, and not on others. Although he knew that a smaller school would be better for him, that didn鈥檛 mean that it would be smooth sailing from the very beginning.聽
鈥淕oing to class in college in the morning specifically was a tough transition for me,鈥� Steiger said.
He also mentions that having all of his roommates being teammates with him at the same time was a great time socially and for team bonding, but for the school part it was a little tougher.聽
鈥淵ou want your living situation to be all things good and fun, but the reality is that your roommates can be a huge distraction to your ability to focus on yourself academically. Sometimes my roommates wanted to have people over to our house on a school night, and most of the time I didn鈥檛 interfere with their decision, because I was thinking about it like 鈥榳hat is one night going to hurt on a weekday?鈥欌�� Harrison, who quickly realized that he was getting behind in some classes that he easily could have stayed up and on track in, said.
鈥淗aving all of the freedom in the world right away was definitely a rough transition, going from being in high school, having more restrictions, that was really a tough few first months. I didn鈥檛 know exactly what college was going to be like, but that transition wasn鈥檛 exactly a walk in the park,鈥� Steiger said.
Having newfound freedom maybe was a bit of a heavy hitter at first, but he definitely shaped himself up over the following couple months and years to get his academic career on a good path.聽
Steiger also mentioned that basketball, and sports in general, have always been a distraction from other things going on in life. However, there have also been times, albeit not many, that Steiger has felt like he needed a distraction from the game itself.
鈥淚 have been here in Klamath Falls for about a month-and-a-half, and all of it has consisted of constant training, practice, workouts, all on top of school. Sometimes I woke up in the early morning, knowing that the day would be the same as the last one, and sometimes I thought to myself 鈥榙o I really want to do this?鈥欌�� Steiger said.聽
Steiger also said that in some cases, peer pressure works out for the best.聽
鈥淲hen I wake up and think about not going in and putting in the work, I think of my teammates, I think of my coaches, I think of those guys and how I would be letting them down by making a decision that could affect a lot of other people,鈥� Steiger said.聽
He knows that his teammates and coaches constantly push each other past their limits, because they know it will be for the betterment of the team and everyone else.
