Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Can my homeschooled child participate in NCAA Division I athletics after entering college? Join Michael Farris as he talks with one student athlete on today's Home School Heartbeat.

Mike Farris:
My guest today is former homeschooler and University of Virginia sophomore, Emily Domenech. Emily, welcome to the program.


Emily Domenech:
Thanks for having me.


Mike:
Emily, I'd like you to tell our listeners a little bit about your experience as an athlete at UVA.


Emily:
Here at UVA I am a member of the women's varsity rowing team; it's a Division I sport, so we do a lot of traveling and a lot of competition. When I was in high school, I was a swimmer, and had never had any experience with rowing, and I walked onto the team here at UVA. So it's been a pretty good experience for me.


Mike:
Well, Emily, how's your rowing team doing?


Emily:
Right now, we are currently ranked fifth in the country—last year at NCAA's our varsity program finished in sixth place; we've won all our races so far this season, and we're actually preparing this weekend to go to Tennessee to race with the University of Tennessee.


Mike:
Emily, how tough is it to keep up with your studies while you train so seriously and compete all over the country?


Emily:
It's definitely a challenge, but I wouldn't say that it's impossible. I have to be very careful with my time management and make sure that I have enough time to study, but I think being a homeschooler really prepared me for studying in a collegiate atmosphere because it is a lot of self-motivation and self-organization, and that's helped me a lot throughout my years here at UVA.


Mike:
Emily, tomorrow we're going to talk about your experiences with NCAA eligibility. I'm Mike Farris.