After having a huge soccer season, Elena Milam prepares for the future

Ermias Hagos, Sports Editor
Originally published June 6, 2018

High school athletes who commit to college have to work incredibly hard to get to where they are. A ton of time, commitment and dedication is needed to make the cut on the team, and junior Elena Milam has done just that.
Committing to a new school can be very difficult. It can be a lot of pressure to pick the right school. You can have your family picking one school for you and your coaches and friends picking a completely different one. But Milam has been able to narrow down her options to one and choose DePaul University.
“My mom obviously helped me through this entire process and my coach who had been with me three to four years,” Milam said. “I really wanted to go there when I toured.”
With her decision to commit to De Paul, Milam plans to train as much as she can everyday. But how exactly was she able to get to this point in her illustrious soccer career? Through her continuous hard work and dedication.
“A lot of athletes think everything will be fine when they get to the top level but for me I realized I was playing off of my athletic ability,” Milam said. “Towards the beginning of sophomore year I realized that I would have to put in a lot more work than I thought, so I started training by going out on the field and doing hill sprints. I would go to the gym and lift and do my own workouts.”
Milam has presented herself as a hard working athlete and as a result she has been awarded with a chance to play D-1 soccer. As we all know, college is more demanding than high school, sports-wise and academically.
“One thing that I’ve really enjoyed in the past two years is science. I was thinking about going into health sciences…I would want to be a physical therapist,” Milam said.
While most athletes commit during their senior years, Milam has done it a year prior to the majority. But despite this fact, she feels confident about her decision and ready to take on the battle.
“In some way I feel ready to take on the challenge of going to a highly competitive school on and off the field. It’ll still take me a lot of work to play at that college level but at this point in time, I feel ready,” Milam said.
Confidence is very important in sports as it can be the difference maker between someone who commits and someone who doesn’t. Milam has shown DePaul that she has that in her and that she is more than ready to get started. But as her high school career nears senior year and graduation, Milam wants to leave a message for the underclassmen athletes who want to commit one day as well.
“Keep your head up and continually work hard and want it,” Milam said. “Surround yourself with positivity and people who are going to push you hard.”
“When you go to training make sure you work as hard as you can. Because it’ll be worth it at the end.”
While she still has one year left to prepare for D-1 level competition, Milam seeks to make the most out of it all.