Alexa McAllister is currently a first-year student here at Fanshawe College in the collaborative nursing program with the University of Western Ontario. She is a member of the UWO Women's Lacrosse team, a team that won the Ontario University Athletics championship in October. Not only that, but the team also went undefeated all while having eight freshman on the team. McAllister was a part of a successful defense (only allowing a league low 45 goals all season) and a successful team while attending a different school.

I caught up with her to discuss how playing a university sport while not attending the university was for a first-year student.

What were those weeks like when you were training?
"Very busy. I had to bus to Western every day from 5 to 7 p.m., so I would miss half an hour at the beginning of practice. The training was basically through the practices; we would do training sessions once a week for the practice. It was a lot of travelling — pretty much every weekend we were away — so that made it really busy for me also."

What was the hardest thing about playing athletics at a different school?
"Really just the transportation, it was very inconvenient. But it was worth it in the end."

Are you happy you got to do that in your first year?
"Yeah, very happy, for sure. First of all, it was a great experience because we won the OUA championship, which was a great experience as a rookie, and I got to play a lot this year, which was also very exciting."

Do you have any advice for students looking to play athletics in their first year?
"Don't be intimidated when you go out there. I talked to the coach before to the season (started), just to discuss what it was like playing on the team. But for sure just try out and give it your best out there."

Like you said, the Western Mustangs Women's lacrosse team won the OUA Championship this year, a team you were a part of. How do you plan you do any better after your freshman year?
"Just by doing the same thing, really! Next year, the team really isn't going to change too much, so we have a really, really strong team. Hopefully we can get the same result as last year."

Best of luck for Alexa as she is still training with the lacrosse team at Western and still commuting there on a regular basis.