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allowed me to reach my potential







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Brad Smith
University of Alabama (UAB)

Scholarship success 

Case Study – Brad Smith 

My name is Brad Smith and I am from Adelaide in Australia. I graduated from the University of Alabama – Birmingham in May 2008 with a degree in Communications Management on a golf scholarship. I have been a professional golfer since I graduated, first playing a year and a half in the US on the mini tours to now being a full member of the Australian and Asian professional golf tours.
 
Going to the US for college was something I always wanted to do but had struggled to get organised, organization that Athletes USA can provide. Finally in 2004 I was given the opportunity to play golf for Indian Hills Community College in Iowa, which I attended for two years. College life was everything I had hoped for and more! Everyone in the Athletic department and academic labs made me feel so welcome, and being a foreigner made it all the more enjoyable. 

Outside of golf, life was fantastic, all the instructors for classes were very helpful in making sure that the athletes were taken care of, and always allowed make up time when we were out of town playing in golf tournaments. On top of that they were always interested to know how you’ve played when you got back. Weeknights and weekends during other sports seasons were spent watching basketball games in the arena with a full crowd, or at the softball ground cheering on your friends.
The highlight of my time at Indian Hills was becoming the National Champion in 2006 at Ruidoso, New Mexico. I played great golf all week and found myself in a playoff for the title. With all my teammates, their family members and a number of the others teams watching me and my opponent I came away with a victory, and a championship ring to go with it. You could have one too!

After completing my two years at Indian Hills I had a choice to make. Where do I go from here? You will have options to go straight to a four year school and the friendly Athletes USA staff is there to help you do this. Coming from a junior college or community college I needed to transfer for my final two years to a bigger school.

The transfer process was great. I was entitled to five fully paid for visits by other schools who wanted to recruit me. I used time over the winter and early spring during my sophomore year (2ndyear) to take these visits. I had narrowed my choices down to three, the University of Tennessee – Chattanooga, the University of Alabama – Birmingham and Belmont University (a private school in Nashville, Tennessee). Each of my visits were a blast, the school put me up in an awesome hotel, paid for my flight down, along with lunch and dinner with the other guys from their team.















The next step was being offered a golf scholarship, which the Athletes USA team will help you do. UTC offered me a full ride or 100% scholarship, as did Belmont. However I ended up choosing UAB who offered me an 80% scholarship. Although the other two schools had offered me greater financial opportunities I felt that UAB gave me the best chance to better improve my golf game and education. Athletes USA specialists can assist you in reviewing a number of variables from, your financial situation, education and athletics.

The big school was something new for me. An average sized school by American standards, only 16,000 students, like I said an average sized school. Can you believe it! I had such a great time in Birmingham; a bigger school means bigger everything! The student gym was brand new approximately costing $26 million, huge cafeteria with everything from burgers, pizza and fries, to a full salad bar and daily specials prepared by the chefs! There were all kinds of medical trainers and training rooms for us to use and we had access to academic tutors upon request for any class we were struggling with.


 The basketball stadium was packed out for all home games at around 10,000 screaming fans, and believe me the atmosphere was unreal! Our golf tournaments were always played on fantastic courses and the tournament gifts ranged from watches, to PSP game systems, belts, clothing and money clips. Our team usually flew our would take the team van, which has since been upgraded to a $100,000 Mercedes Benz van with reclining seats, wireless internet, satellite TV with a 40 inch plasma, and retractable wooden shades if you need to sleep! Some of the bigger schools will fly privately a number of times throughout the year as well on the school jets, pretty impressive!

























All I can say in summing up is that the four years I spent in college were the best four years of my life and I would never take them back for anything, other than to enjoy them all over again! If you are planning on going or thinking about going just do it because you won’t regret it. Athletes USA is there to provide you with all the professional tools you need in order to make it happen. Now that I am finished talking you can get back to the main page and sign up to one Athletes USA’s programs that best suits your financial situation.


Brad Smith

University of Alabama – Birmingham

Golf Scholarship

Degree (Communications Management with a minor in Mass Communication)