Alexis Potts is a junior rider competing for the University of South Carolina in Horsemanship. An accomplished Western rider, she's sitting at 9-1-2 on the season heading into the final stretch. The Fountain Inn, South Carolina, native is a Retail major with a concentration in Fashion Merchandising & Digital Innovation. This is her story.

I’ve known since I was four years old that I wanted to ride on an NCEA Equestrian Team. I can vividly remember going to Blythewood, South Carolina, to watch the SEC Championships and running around in my boots with posters and Sharpies, collecting autographs from athletes I admired. I looked up to them in more ways than one, and hoped in that moment I could be just like them one day. The path to get where I am today wasn’t perfect, and still isn’t, as life never is. There were many points of redirection and questioning if these dreams would ever come to fruition. It was never easy, but looking back, that's what made it so much more rewarding. Every setback taught me that goals aren’t fixed destinations, but a direction. They change and evolve with every circumstance that passes us by, because as humans, our own desires constantly shift as well. And sometimes the detours we never expected shape us the most.

One of the biggest stress inducers for me as a high schooler was feeling like I hadn’t reached my “peak” in my personal career to be noticed by colleges. As the daughter of a horse trainer, my parents made sure I always had something to show, but many times it would be what we would consider a “project horse.” We would show them for a short time, help them to find a new home, then repeat the process. By fifteen, I had shown more than thirty horses from all different disciplines, but not one where I could grow a partnership strong enough to chase bigger dreams. With June 15th approaching, I questioned whether I had done enough in the arena to earn attention from college coaches.

If I could do my recruiting process all over again, I wouldn’t have changed a thing because it got me to where I am today. But that doesn’t mean I did it all perfectly. What I didn’t know, while I was putting so much pressure on myself to develop a list of accomplishments worthy enough for a collegiate equestrian program, was that there are so many other attributes to capitalize on. I could have been using my videos on these inexperienced horses to show schools my adaptability, or share about my academic accolades, or attended camps to gain experience. One thing you cannot do is underestimate how selective and competitive the collegiate equestrian realm is. You cannot sit back and merely hope you make it into your dream school...as dreams don’t work unless you do. Looking back, I can clearly see how recruiting is not merely about ribbons or trophies; it's about the whole picture. Who are you as a rider, and more importantly, as a person? After all, being a kind, supportive, and hard-working teammate is the most valuable thing you can bring to a team, and that ultimately creates a culture where everyone can succeed together.

All of my anxieties were put to ease as I was given the opportunity to begin my collegiate career at Auburn University under the guidance of Taylor Searles. I had no idea what that year would have in store for me, but I was willing to take on any role and finally live out my dream of being on a collegiate equestrian team. Throughout my freshman year, I grew so much as a rider, adapting to this whole new competitive format, which was challenging but exciting. Through Coach Searles belief and guidance, I was able to reach goals I couldn’t even wrap my mind around setting at the beginning of the year. By the end of my freshman year, I had a Team SEC Championship, SEC Freshmen of the Year, All SEC Team, and NCEA All-American Honorable Mention honors that were made possible by those who pushed me every day.

It became evident this year that the horses in my personal career I once thought were holding me back from reaching my college equestrian dreams were actually the most influential in preparing me for them. Each horse shaped me both as a rider and an individual. Some taught me patience and to slow down to focus on the finer details, others called on me to be strong, and some gentle. But each obstacle was an opportunity to grow into an equipped problem solver, especially when curveballs come your way, which translates over into high-pressure collegiate situations.

Life also has a way of throwing unexpected curveballs when you least anticipate them. The summer before my sophomore year, everything shifted. My dad was offered a coaching position at the University of South Carolina. Being an NCEA Coach is something my Dad had always talked about, but as he had an established training facility that he ran for decades, we never truly thought it would happen until it was staring us right in the face. The first few days of excitement for my dad turned into confusion and anxiety as I questioned, how am I going to compete against him? I soon realized it would be impossible and made the decision to return home to South Carolina.

What I would soon find out is that transferring is not as easy as waving a magic wand and boom, you’re admitted to a new school. As the transfer portal had closed at this time, transferring meant sitting out my sophomore year. This is another point in my life where something that seems so difficult at first turns out to be one of the best things to have ever happened to me. I used that year to grow as a teammate, push my limits in the arena, and develop a young horse at home. I was able to be selected for an Internship through USC to work at the 2025 Masters Golf Tournament, which was the opportunity of a lifetime. These are all things I would not have been able to accomplish without the so-called consequence of sitting out of competition for a year.

In the end, I can now see how every twist in my journey has reinforced one simple truth: goals aren't achieved by reaching a fixed destination. Rather, they are earned along your journey of weathering twists and turns life has in store. From being a little girl with a dream, to feeling like it would be impossible for it to actually come true, to navigating the complex dynamics of the collegiate equestrian environment, I have discovered there is much to be gained from the detours, and somehow they always guide you right where you are meant to be.