On February 5, three senior student-athletes signed letters of intent to continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level. Alyssa Tafolla and Cristina Lopez committed to the University of La Verne for softball and Tyler Tuntland to the University of Dubuque for football.
Alyssa Tafolla
What was your process in picking this school?
“I thought it would be like a great decision to go for softball, the coaches were super nice. They’re well known for academics and I want to major in psychology. I heard they had a great psychology program so I decided this would be a great fit for me.”
What attracted you to this school?
“I heard from people going there that it’s a great school, everyone’s really well grounded, and the teachers will actually care for you and be there to help you out.”
What were some factors you had to factor in your decision?
“I really had to think about what would be best for me, teaching-wise and learning-wise. Also what would help me grow in the future and what would help me pursue my career in my major or the sport I want to play.”
Were you considering other schools?
“I was considering going out of state for softball and so I talked to a few other schools but I wanted to stay close to home and I thought that it would be good for me to play softball at home and stay close to my family at the same time.”
What were some sacrifices you had to make to get to this point?
“I sacrificed my time, my effort, almost everything since I was little and I’m so glad I did because it’s really helped me grow as a person and help me make friends. I fell in love with this sport and I think it was a great experience.”
Cristina Lopez
What was your process in picking this school?
“I wanted to be close to my house and with my family and I didn’t want to go far. I felt like La Verne was a good fit for me, and I like how they had competitive softball and their business program was really good.”
What were some factors you had to factor in your decision?
“I had to factor in the money because it’s a private school, it’s really expensive so I wanted something that was doable, but also get the education that I need.”
Were you considering other schools?
“It was between La Verne University or Chapman University. For me, La Verne just felt more at home, and I really like Chapman too but it wasn’t what I was looking for. I like that I was close to home and that the softball is good but it’s not overbearing.”
What made it an easy choice?
“I really like the school, the coaches, and the players. They all make me feel at home and I know that I’ll be happy there.”
Who was supporting you in this process?
“Definitely my family. They wanted me to do what’s best for me.”
What were some sacrifices you had to make to get to this point?
“I’ve had years of training since I was three playing softball so I knew this was always my goal in the end. I had to make sure I was on top of school to make sure I would get the best GPA so they would be interested in me.”
Tyler Tuntland
What was your process in picking this school?
“My process was going out to the school to see how it was in person and I fell in love with it so it made my process for choosing them pretty easy for me.”
What attracted you to this school?
“The location of this school, the coaching staff, and their ability to have a good football program attracted me to the school.”
What were some factors you had to factor in your decision?
“Some factors were that I realized my school is super far away from my family. I had to make sure they had my program at the college that I wanted to study and if I actually fit into the college.”
Were you considering other schools?
“I was considering a couple schools in North Dakota and Missouri but this school stood out to me because they have a good coaching staff that seem ready to help build me into a better football player.”
What made it easy and difficult to decide?
“The easy part of my decision was that I had a full ride scholarship to play college football and the difficult part was that I had to move all the way across the country for college.”
Who was supporting you in this process?
“I had all of my family members, the football staff and friends supporting me my whole way through all of it.”
What were some sacrifices you had to make to get to this point?
“Some sacrifices I had to make were getting up every morning at four or five am to workout, skipping hangout days with friends to practice, less family time, and missing different types of things due to practice or being tired from practicing but it was all worth it.”
