Transition happens in everyone's lives, whether it's transitioning to a new school, a new job, or a new home. For Georgia Southern freshman and diver Abby Ounsworth, she's facing several transitions all at once, including moving to a new country, moving from a sport she loved, but now settling into a place she can feel at home.
 
Ounsworth has been on campus at Georgia Southern for a couple of months, transitioning from a high school student in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, to a collegiate diver and college student in Statesboro, Georgia. The move from Canada to the southeastern U.S. would be a move that would be difficult for a lot of people to make, but she says she's handling it incredibly well.
 
"It's definitely an adjustment and there's a lot of change," Ounsworth said when asked about the move, "but I'm really lucky to have a great support system. My family and friends, obviously, but also my football teams at home have really helped me through this, and as funny as it sounds, they have helped [me] mentally prep before I got here."
 
When asked about culture shocks, Ounsworth laughed a little when she mentioned an obvious one. "The temperature was a shock; Saskatchewan is this temperature in the summer. So getting here, where it was hot all of the time, I thought it was a lot."
 
She also mentions something those around the southeast know very well. "I didn't know southern hospitality was a real thing. I think that actually helped make the transition a lot easier, everyone was just nice and felt almost Canadian."
 
Perceptive readers will notice that Ounsworth mentioned her football teams helped make the transition easier. As it turns out, Ounsworth played American football during her high school years in Saskatchewan, playing for three different teams, including the Regina Riot, which is a member of the Western Woman's Canadian Football League (WWCFL), known as the highest level of women's professional football in Canada. Ounsworth explains how she got her start in football:
 
"I only started because of my dad," she explained. "I think he saw an ad on Facebook that our city was starting a minor women's football league, and he asked as a joke if we wanted to play football. My older sister and I thought, 'absolutely, we do,' just to spite him."
 
One can expect there to be a lot of differences between diving and football, and Ounsworth points out these differences in an interesting way. "Prior to football, I had only done individual sports, which is a very different mentality. It took a lot of pressure off of me and gave me a whole new community, which is nice. Football season was only two months long and diving was year-round, so it was nice being able to compete for two months where the pressure was not completely on me."
 
"I met a lot of mentors and amazing people, really supportive coaches like Claire Doré and Adrienne Zuck, who were really helping me develop in both sports, even if they only knew football. It helped me build a lot of confidence in myself as an athlete. It helped me fall in love with football."
 
Ounsworth earned a lithany of honors and awards as a football player, being named a Defensive MVP in the U18 Canada Cup, as well as earning Special Teams MVP honors with the Riot. Though she played most every position on the field, she says that she loved linebacker the most. "I would say linebacker, occasionally lining up in the dime. I like to be the hitter, not the one getting hit," she finished off her sentence with a laugh.
 
When asked if Georgia Southern football coach Clay Helton would offer her, she offered another laugh. "I'd never turn down the chance to play a down. This is the first fall in six years I haven't been on a football field, so if Coach Helton needs a long snapper, lateral snaps are my specialty."
 
Her favorite memories are the ones where she's been surrounded by her teammates and made incredible achievements with them, including winning the Prairie Girls Football League Championship with the Regina Victorias during her senior year of high school. "It was an amazing moment; it was really great to celebrate with all of my teammates that I started out with. It was the first championship that team had ever won."
 
Her other favorite moment was from the U18 Canada Cup, the inaugural competition of its kind. "It was nice to make history like that, as well as being named a team captain and named MVP for all three games we played, as well as being named the Top Defensive Player in Canada. It was just amazing."
 
Diving and football could not be more different, but Ounsworth says there are several ways she has been able to take aspects from both sports to help her both in diving competitions and on the gridiron. "It's wild to think they would positively affect each other, but the explosiveness, the power, and the aggression I got out of football really translated to the pool. And vice versa, the spatial awareness I had because of diving helped me avoid injuries and needless hits on the field."
 
Changes are scary, but Ounsworth says football gave her the courage to make a big change in her life, leaving Canada to come to school in south Georgia.
 
"If you asked me prior to my football days if I would move countries to go to university with a bunch of people I did not know, my answer would be 'absolutely not, are you crazy, I'm going to school in Regina with my friends.' But the confidence I got from football, the people, and the support system it created for me, it helps me do the things I'm doing now."
 
Ounsworth leaves the interview with a few parting thoughts, but they are ones that Eagle Nation would like hearing.
 
"When I'm with my team, I give my all. For the next four years, I'm 110% Eagle Nation, and I'm very excited to see what my team and I can do."