Four years ago, she was in Kojonup, Australia. A year after that, Perth, Australia. She entered her first year of college at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tenn. just short of two years ago. Now, feeling like this is where she belongs and thanking her lucky stars for bringing her here, she resides as a student at the University of Nebraska Kearney (UNK) in Kearney, Neb.
Saying good-bye to all she knew was one of her toughest moments in her life. Katie-Mary Outhwaite, then a newly 18 year-old, was ready to set out on a life-changing journey. Leaving friends, family and her way of life in Australia behind, Mary chose to keep one thing she knew close to her—the game of tennis. Deciding to further her tennis years growing up and pursue her dreams of playing tennis at the collegiate level in America, Mary arrived in Memphis, Tenn., luggage and racquet in hand.
“I knew absolutely no one! When I got to that city [Memphis] I thought ‘ok here we go, what do I do now,’” Mary expressed.
Soon she was well acquainted with the girls of the Memphis tennis team and ready to compete. It was concluding her first season of competition that the head tennis coach was to be replaced with someone new. Mary soon discovered that the new coach hired on had decided to cut her, as well as three other girls from the team.
“It was a huge slap in the face after finding out that news. I had no clue where to turn or what to do. I was on scholarship and when I was cut that was taken from me,” Mary said as a tear began to form in her eyes. Thousands of miles away from home and Mary thought she was left with nothing but shattered dreams.
Realizing the new coach hired had made a mistake, he contacted Mary and offered her a spot back on the team. “I turned down his offer. I guess my pride just got in the way and I didn’t want to play for him,” she said.
It was at that moment where her next biggest decision, her most pivotal moment in her life, came to be. Mary needed to decide whether she was going back to Australia or search out other possibilities in the United States.
An unexpected offer from the University of Texas came to her soon after she had heard of the devastating news. Then another from a friend of her previous coach at Memphis, wanting her to check out Kearney, Neb. Each option created a plethora of opportunity that she was forced to weed out.
Option one was to pack up her dreams of being in the States and playing college tennis and go home. “At the time, this choice seemed to be the one that sounded the best. But then I thought, I’ve come this far and surpassed many obstacles that have been in my way so why give up now?” she said.
Her second and third options would bring her to new surroundings, seeming to place her back where she was when she first arrived in Memphis. The thought of being able to continue playing collegiate tennis and fearing the let-down of not sticking to this new adventure excited her to seek out option two or three. “If I chose to attend the University of Texas that fall I would have remained playing Division I tennis. Playing for UNK, I would have stepped down to Division II and a smaller university,” Mary said.
With no ounce of emotion left in her body due to the triumph of the past months in Memphis, Mary decided against going home and focused on whether she would be attending UT or UNK in the fall of 2007. “I was so emotionally exhausted from everything I went through in Memphis that I don’t really remember feeling anything as I went about making my decision as to what school I wanted to attend,” she said.
When the 2007, fall semester convened Mary walked to class on UNK’s campus! “Before I even got to Kearney, the girls on team that I would soon be joining were already calling to see if I wanted to get together and meet everyone on the team. I felt so incredibly welcomed by everyone I had met and I just knew that I had made the right decision,” Mary said.
Now, almost a year and a half later, Mary looks back at her experiences in Memphis as stepping stones for helping her become an emotionally strong individual. “Looking back I guess I am thankful for what I had to go through there. It definitely helped shape me into the person I am today and because of those experiences I am the Katie-Mary Outhwaite I am,” Mary said, laughing. Coming from a girl who has been there and knows, Mary is convinced that, “Our experiences really can build character.”
Saying good-bye to all she knew was one of her toughest moments in her life. Katie-Mary Outhwaite, then a newly 18 year-old, was ready to set out on a life-changing journey. Leaving friends, family and her way of life in Australia behind, Mary chose to keep one thing she knew close to her—the game of tennis. Deciding to further her tennis years growing up and pursue her dreams of playing tennis at the collegiate level in America, Mary arrived in Memphis, Tenn., luggage and racquet in hand.
“I knew absolutely no one! When I got to that city [Memphis] I thought ‘ok here we go, what do I do now,’” Mary expressed.
Soon she was well acquainted with the girls of the Memphis tennis team and ready to compete. It was concluding her first season of competition that the head tennis coach was to be replaced with someone new. Mary soon discovered that the new coach hired on had decided to cut her, as well as three other girls from the team.
“It was a huge slap in the face after finding out that news. I had no clue where to turn or what to do. I was on scholarship and when I was cut that was taken from me,” Mary said as a tear began to form in her eyes. Thousands of miles away from home and Mary thought she was left with nothing but shattered dreams.
Realizing the new coach hired had made a mistake, he contacted Mary and offered her a spot back on the team. “I turned down his offer. I guess my pride just got in the way and I didn’t want to play for him,” she said.
It was at that moment where her next biggest decision, her most pivotal moment in her life, came to be. Mary needed to decide whether she was going back to Australia or search out other possibilities in the United States.
An unexpected offer from the University of Texas came to her soon after she had heard of the devastating news. Then another from a friend of her previous coach at Memphis, wanting her to check out Kearney, Neb. Each option created a plethora of opportunity that she was forced to weed out.
Option one was to pack up her dreams of being in the States and playing college tennis and go home. “At the time, this choice seemed to be the one that sounded the best. But then I thought, I’ve come this far and surpassed many obstacles that have been in my way so why give up now?” she said.
Her second and third options would bring her to new surroundings, seeming to place her back where she was when she first arrived in Memphis. The thought of being able to continue playing collegiate tennis and fearing the let-down of not sticking to this new adventure excited her to seek out option two or three. “If I chose to attend the University of Texas that fall I would have remained playing Division I tennis. Playing for UNK, I would have stepped down to Division II and a smaller university,” Mary said.
With no ounce of emotion left in her body due to the triumph of the past months in Memphis, Mary decided against going home and focused on whether she would be attending UT or UNK in the fall of 2007. “I was so emotionally exhausted from everything I went through in Memphis that I don’t really remember feeling anything as I went about making my decision as to what school I wanted to attend,” she said.
When the 2007, fall semester convened Mary walked to class on UNK’s campus! “Before I even got to Kearney, the girls on team that I would soon be joining were already calling to see if I wanted to get together and meet everyone on the team. I felt so incredibly welcomed by everyone I had met and I just knew that I had made the right decision,” Mary said.
Now, almost a year and a half later, Mary looks back at her experiences in Memphis as stepping stones for helping her become an emotionally strong individual. “Looking back I guess I am thankful for what I had to go through there. It definitely helped shape me into the person I am today and because of those experiences I am the Katie-Mary Outhwaite I am,” Mary said, laughing. Coming from a girl who has been there and knows, Mary is convinced that, “Our experiences really can build character.”
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