Vrishank Biju: Signing to Compete in College

Vrishank Biju: Signing to Compete in College
With just a couple weeks remaining in his high school career, Vrishank Biju has recently announced his decision to continue track in college, officially signing with Brown University. He has been a part of the Arcadia Track Team for all 4 years, specializing in shot put and discus. As he approaches this drastic transition, we discussed his experience committing.  

Could you briefly describe your experience being recruited?

Although movies often depict the recruiting process as a craze of coaches personally fighting for a student-athlete’s commitment, this is not the reality for the vast majority of college recruitments. In Biju’s experience, it required communication from both ends, recalling that he “[reached] out to college coaches” near the end of his junior season, when his marks became more competitive at the college level. Different schools have different recruiting standards based on their divisions, so if he already met the mark, he reached out to them earlier. After getting in touch with a few coaches, their primary mode of communication was through emails but occasional calls were made as the recruitment process progressed. Factors such as grades, other extracurriculars, admission guarantees, division level, and scholarships were all main topics of conversation and they influenced his eventual decision to commit to Brown University. 

When and how did you know you wanted to compete in college?

For Biju, the prospects of competing in college seemed out of reach, more of a far-fetch dream than a possible reality, until the beginning of his junior year. This was when he saw a jump in progress and development. Competing at the collegiate level offers the opportunity to compete in additional events not offered in high school, higher levels, and a more structured approach towards excelling in the sport, pushing Biju to strive for this goal. 

What were some challenges you faced while training/competing?

With all great athletes, come mental and physical struggles that stand in their way of success, and with Biju, his most notable hurdle was overcoming his finger injury. Because of an accident during practice, he was forced to undergo surgery and unable to practice for several weeks, especially given the nature of his events–throwing. Although there were imminent fears of plateauing or falling behind fellow teammates, upon his return, he worked tirelessly to prepare for the upcoming season ahead of him, which would prove to be extremely successful. To combat the risk of burnout, he ensured that he took breaks accordingly, noting that after the end of a track season, he would give himself a couple of weeks of break to rest his body before bouncing back. Above all, Biju notes that having a persistent mindset to continuously push his boundaries was his greatest asset.

What are you looking forward to/goals for competing in college?

Some of his aspirations for competing in college include “placing top 9 in [his] events” at Ivy Heps, the collegiate equivalent of league finals (a meet where schools across a league will come together to compete and hopefully advance to more competitive levels), “[learning] how to throw the hammer and weight throw,” as well as forming new life-long friendships. 

Do you have any advice to offer for aspiring collegiate athletes?

Biju advises aspiring collegiate athletes to “not give up” and start reaching out to coaches by junior year. “Coaches are busy” but understanding, so “give time and follow up respectfully to both show your enthusiasm and tenacity.” If you underperformed one year, elaborate on it! Above all, coaches prioritize potential and will be willing to listen to your circumstances. As a final remark, Biju reminds athletes “to have fun during [your] season… I strongly believe if you love what you are doing and give it 100 percent, you will be great at what you want to do.” 

The members of TMP are so excited to see where Biju’s journey will take him!