Kelsey HigginsonSports Nutrition Coach and Founder at Clutch Day Coaching

What I would tell my 14 year old self

14 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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1:17

In this personal reflection, a former Division II athlete recounts the four pivotal changes they would make if they could advise their 14‑year‑old self. First, they would prioritize nutrition and hydration to unlock untapped physical gains. Second, they would eliminate phone use at bedtime, placing the device in another room to secure sufficient, high‑quality sleep for recovery and daily energy. Third, they would immerse themselves in sports‑psychology resources—podcasts and books—to strengthen mindset, which they view as a major developmental gap. Fourth, they would train in a gym populated by athletes who are stronger and more talented, deliberately choosing to be the “worst” in that environment to force continual improvement. The speaker believes that implementing these four strategies would have dramatically altered their college recruitment trajectory.

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I always had the biggest dream of going to play at the biggest Division I school possible, but I didn't make that dream. I played Division II, which was really fun and I enjoyed, but here's what I would do different if I could get a chance to redo it again and go back to like my 14-year-old self. The first thing I would do is lock in on my nutrition and my hydration. I was leaving so many gains and so much potential on the table by not doing that. That's the first thing I would do. The second thing I would do is put my phone away when it came to bedtime. I'd leave it in the kitchen so it wouldn't even tempt me. That way I could get the sleep that I needed to recover, to recuperate, to be able to get up the next morning and show up to my workouts super high energy and super ready to go. The third thing I would do is start listening to sports psychology podcasts or reading the books. That's one big hole in my development, I believe, is— was my mindset. So that's something I would definitely focus on. And then the fourth thing I would do is go find a gym full of athletes who are better, bigger, more talented than you, where like when you walk in, you almost feel embarrassed for being there because you are going to rise to the level of their competition. You don't want to be the best one in the gym. You want to be the worst one in the gym because that means you're going to be getting better and better and better, and it's going to help you rise to the level of that competition. If I did all these 4 things, I really believe that my recruitment process would have been a whole lot different.