Narelle Hayward

"We are in the final stages of selecting a college for Courtney. Courtney has had during the time 11 colleges make contact and show interest, however we have received definite offers at this point from 4 colleges, Northern Michigan, Olivet Nazarene (NAIA), Brenau (NAIA) and Florida Institute Technology. Other colleges have indicated they will have an offer for Courtney, but nothing has yet been formalized. However, we are now at a point where we are unable to wait for all offers to be made as we do not want to miss out on the offers that have already been presented. We plan to make a decision in the next couple of weeks.

We decided on pursuing this avenue for Courtney to allow her to continue with her education and swimming in a more supported environment then would be available studying here at University in Queensland. Courtney is also keen for the "College Team" experience and as much as I am apprehensive, (what parent wouldn't be), I know that the experience would be invaluable to her. Courtney has worked very hard at swimming for a very long time and it will be wonderful to see her achieve this goal she has set herself.

It has been a very interesting journey and we have learnt a great deal along the way about American Colleges, American Geography, NCAA, NAIA, SAT results and College Conferences..... There is correspondence to attend to, mainly just keeping the colleges updated on progress both academically and in the pool and replying to the college coaches emails. You do get to know the coaches quite well, at this point I can honestly say there has been no coach that we haven't liked or any college that we haven't been impressed by. Courtney has also Skyped and had phone chats with the coaches.

We have been working with Nick for the last 12 months, he has proved invaluable with his guidance, advice and recommendations. He has taken a personal interest in Courtney and in us, her family, as no doubt he does with all his clients. Nick keeps in close contact with us and follows up with the Colleges. Whenever we have any questions or needed some guidance he has been always available to assist. Nick has continued with the same enthusiasm throughout this process as he started with at the beginning of this journey. At times I feel my enthusiasm waning... however Nick always remains positive. I know that Nick will feel as pleased and as proud as we will when Courtney's Scholarship is awarded and finalized. I sincerely don't believe we would be at this point without Nick’s assistance.

I hope I have answered all your questions and if not please email me again, I would be happy to assist further if I can. I do feel anxious at times about Courtney heading overseas, but I know I can always visit, and the world isn't as big as it once was."