As each season begins, so too does the realization for seniors that this doesn’t last forever.

Something that’s been a huge part of your life or maybe even the reason you were able to go to college in the first place, is only temporary.

For the 2017-18 academic year, there are 57 seniors on all of the USI teams (excluding the track and field teams; the 2017-18 roster hasn’t been posted). That doesn’t even account for club sports and intramural teams either.

The season ending game, match or tournament could realistically be the last time the seniors play their sport.

Outside of a handful of former USI players, Jeril Taylor being the latest, most never reach the ranks of professional.

Take Anastasia Carter for example, who played for the women’s golf team from 2012-16 and is still trying to make it as a professional golfer.

Carter was named to the All-GLVC team four times and won the GLVC individual title during her career at USI as well.

She’s slated to compete in two tournaments during the next month, one in Colorado and the other in Florida, but she’s still not a full-time professional golfer.

This isn’t to say she’ll never make it, if anything, her pursuit of the ever illustrious title of “professional golfer” highlights her determination. But it also shows just how difficult it truly is to make it to the highest level.

That’s why for the majority of student athletes, their choice in major shouldn’t be just an obligation of enrollment. It should be in a field they’re certain they want to pursue.

If graduation occurs for a student athlete when they’re 22-years-old, that leaves 43 more years before the current acceptable retirement age, meaning it’s better to find a career doing something enjoyable, rather than something loathsome.