Division II Blog: Growing up PSAC
Written by Brynn Seidenstricker, Field Hockey, Shippensburg, PSAC National SAAC Rep
D2 Student Athlete Blog Site
The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference is made up of 18 institutions, all in the state of Pennsylvania. This conference, better known as the PSAC, has a unique make-up of student-athletes. For the majority of us, we were born and raised in the Keystone state, creating a unique dynamic when it comes to stepping onto the field of competition. It’s always a great experience when you get to compete against someone you knew in high school, but in the PSAC it isn’t uncommon to look across that 50-yard line, the half-court line or across the net and see a few familiar faces from the past on every PSAC team.
Everyone has a unique story about how they got to where they are. If you were to sit down with the PSAC student-athletes, you would probably hear a lot of similarities. We grew up participating in some sort of little league, went on to play in high school and probably played on a club or travel team, but ultimately ended up choosing one of 18 PSAC schools. No matter what factors caused us to select the PSAC, we chose this conference for a reason.
For a lot of us, the proximity to our hometowns was a huge factor in making our college decision. The beauty of the PSAC is we can travel up to six hours from home, but still be in PA, which allows our families and biggest fans to comfortably travel to all of our conference contests. A big advantage to choosing not only the PSAC but also almost any Division II school is that we aren’t spending our lives traveling all over country for games. For the majority of competition we get to stay relatively close to home, which allows us to spend more time focusing on our studies and extracurricular activities.
Each week during our competitive season, we get to see and compete against opponents we’ve built friendships with throughout high school and our club days. For me personally, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to become best friends with many of the girls I played field hockey against in high school, who are now not only my teammates, but in my heart, family. The irony and beauty of the situation lies in the fact that if you had told me in high school that in college I would become not only teammates but also best friends with my bitter high school rivals, I would have laughed at you.
At the end of the day all PSAC student-athletes want the same thing, to win. But thankfully, we also get to spend time with friends and family all over Pennsylvania as we travel to competition. Since our conference is composed of PA institutions, we all have the opportunity to stay within a reasonable distance of each other and still get the full college experience, while maintaining and building new friendships from our past. There is nothing quite like looking down the handshake line and seeing your former high school or club teammates and rivals. It is because of this close-knit community amongst the PSAC student-athletes that I truly believe the competition across all sports in the PSAC is so strong within the league as well as at the regional and national levels in Division II.