College Bound!

Colleges are not allowed to call prospective players until the summer before their sophomore year of high school (on July 1st, to be exact). Vanesha was waiting by the phone and she started receiving calls that very first day! Her first call came from Arizona State. ASU had already seen her play for the Tabagators at a camp in Las Vegas, so she’d already had an opportunity to meet and mingle with them. The calls kept coming, and soon she was scheduled to take 5 recruiting trips to different schools (players are limited to a total of 5 trips).

Her first trip was to the University of Utah. She knew right away that the school wasn’t for her, due to its lack of diversity. Her second trip was to St. Mary’s College, a small private school in Northern California. Her dream was to go to a big school, so she ruled that one out as well. Her third trip was to Utah State where it rained the entire time. As a native Las Vegan and a lover of sunshine, she knew that she wouldn’t last one winter there. Her fourth trip was to Arizona State and she loved the school and town right away. She went during football season and got to experience a few college football games. “I loved it there, I absolutely loved it. I knew the coaches already and we had a good connection going and the girls were all super nice”. Her final trip was planned for Pittsburg, but after her experience with rain in Utah she decided to cancel it. Arizona was her choice! She received a full scholarship and was a starter on the team every year she was there except her senior year. Vanesha received her Bachelor of Science degree in Physiology with a minor in Chemistry. She later received her Master’s in Public Health from UNLV.