Never in my wildest dreams did I anticipate I’d be appearing before a congressional committee, especially not in the middle of my senior year softball season at Florida State. But that’s exactly where I found myself on March 29 when I testified at the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing titled “Taking the Buzzer Beater to the Bank: Protecting College Athletes’ NIL Dealmaking Rights.”

During the hearing, I was able to speak about my experiences as a softball student-athlete at Florida State. Those experiences include navigating the new frontier of name, image, and likeness. For me and many other athletes — both men and women across the variety of sports our universities offer — NIL has been an incredible opportunity.

A lot has been made about NIL and for myself and many of my friends and competitors it has overwhelmingly been a huge positive. While each athlete who chooses to engage in NIL deals has their own motives and pathway, for most athletes, NIL gives us a chance to finally earn some money to supplement our scholarships and have some additional money to spend, save or invest. And in my case, NIL is helping to pay for my future education as I pursue an advanced degree.

Even though NIL has been a net positive, there are still kinks in the system that players, coaches, and universities are stuck trying to effectively navigate. I still remember how nervous I was during my initial NIL deals out of fear of compromising my eligibility.

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have the help of resources at Florida State, including help from our compliance department, that made sure everything was handled the right way. Florida State, and many other universities, have embraced helping athletes become knowledgeable and develop the skills necessary to succeed in the NIL world. In addition to the knowledge and resources available to student-athletes at Florida State, the university also offers three separate NIL-focused courses that we can apply to our degrees and help students gain skills and knowledge that help in applicable areas like contracts, negotiations and branding.

But even with support available to help athletes navigate NIL, there are still problems with how NIL works holistically.

Different states have different laws on what they allow athletes or schools to do, and some states have no NIL laws at all. This can make things complicated for current athletes, and it also gives some athletes and schools advantages over competitors at schools in other states. Not to mention these discrepancies between schools can become a factor for recruiting and other ways when players are choosing which school to attend.

I hope that through my testimony in Congress, and the testimony of many of the others on the panel, Congress will be motivated to set uniform guidelines that give every student-athlete the same resources and information to help them work through their NIL opportunities and keep every school playing by the same standards.

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One of the other issues I raised in my testimony, and was asked about by members of the Committee, was the concern I have over revenue-sharing models like the one currently being proposed in California. Under revenue-sharing models like this, it is likely that thousands of athletes will be at risk of losing out on opportunities altogether.

These models would force schools to divert funds away from women’s and Olympic sports to pay athletes in revenue-generating sports like football and men’s basketball. On most campuses, football and men’s basketball fund the other sports programs, meaning softball players like me and the hundreds of thousands of athletes in non-revenue-generating sports would face the real possibility our sports would be cut as a result of this model. If this model had been in place before my time, there is a real chance the softball program at Florida State wouldn’t have existed when I was coming out of high school, and I might have been forced to give up playing the sport I love after high school.

My years at Florida State have been the best time of my life. I have learned so much, made lifelong friendships with incredible teammates and classmates, and made memories that will last a lifetime. I am pursuing my passion and chasing my dreams all while getting an education, and I would not be the person I am today or the person I will become in the future without the opportunity to be a softball student-athlete at Florida State University.

All I want is for other female athletes who come after me to be afforded the same ability to have the life-changing experiences I have been fortunate enough to have thanks to my journey as a college athlete. Unfortunately, there appears to be a serious threat on the horizon and those opportunities could be taken away from future softball players, and athletes from across the spectrum of women’s and Olympic sports.

As was said during the hearing, it’s not every day you have a former athlete, current athlete, athletic director, and league commissioner all in agreement on an issue. On this issue, we are all in agreement that Congress needs to do something to protect the future of all college athletes.

NIL has been a good thing for college athletes, but all good things can still be improved and refined. I can’t thank my teammates, coaches, administrators and classmates at Florida State enough for all they have done to help me grow as not just an athlete but as a person during my time as a Seminole. While I don’t know what the future holds for college athletics, my hope is that those who have the power to step up will act, and in doing so they will ensure thousands of future women and Olympic sports competitors continue to have the same opportunities I have had as a result of playing college athletics.

Kaley Mudge, a varsity softball player, is a student-athlete at Florida State University.