A Day In
The Life Of A Two-Sport
NCAA Division I College Student-Athlete
(This is an actual account, not a fabrication)
I play two NCAA Division I sports – Basketball and Outdoor Track & Field. If I have an injury my day begins at 6:45 a.m. I spend 45 minutes in the training room then head to my 8:30 a.m. class. There is time for breakfast somewhere between therapy & my first class. Eating breakfast, lunch & dinner is imperative for an athlete.
My second class begins at 10:00 a.m. and lasts three hours. I always hope the professors let us out a bit early so I can run to the dining hall and quickly eat lunch before the start of my 1:00 p.m. class. After that class, it’s off to the gym at 2:45 p.m. for basketball practice. I’ll get my injury taped (or just sports medicine needs taken care of) and warm up on my own before our official practice begins—which lasts 2.5 - 3 hours.
The content of basketball practice varies. One day can be heavy on conditioning; another can be heavy on walk-thrus of opposing team’s plays. Three times a week {in season} we have strength-training right after practice. See why eating is so vital! Lifting lasts 45-60 minutes. After lifting, I get my post sports medicine needs attended to in the training room with my athletic trainer.
By about 6:30 p.m. I am at the dining hall eating dinner with my teammates. This is where I actually get to relax a little bit. Then by 8:00 p.m. I’m rejuvenated by a shower and ready to tackle my school work. School work lasts about 2 hours at a clip depending on particular assignments and projects that are due (I try to average 4-6 hours daily of study time for about 16 credits worth of classes).
I find time management to be a critical skill as a student-athlete in college. One of my techniques is to heavily rely on a class syllabus which outlines the “what and when” of future work. I will do work in advance to avoid ever pulling an all-nighter (which a lot of my friends seem to do quite often). Being an athlete never affords me the time to catch up on lost sleep. And believe me it is quite obvious to coaches when you are not well rested.
At the end of a night I will allow myself to decompress by watching my favorite television shows with my roommates. The time at which I actually go to bed depends on the start time of the next day. If I ever have a practice at the unfortunate time of 6:00 a.m., I force myself to go to bed at 10:00 p.m. Otherwise I am in bed by 11:00 p.m. or midnight. I’m not sure where but I also need to fit in my daily regimen as warranted: coach/advisor meetings; tutor sessions; study hall; doctor’s appointments; community service projects; mandatory educational workshops; and leadership group meetings.
Oddly enough I wouldn’t trade this structured and stressful lifestyle for anything else. When you are part of a collective passion, making sacrifices comes easy. Nothing else in life replaces the emotions of striving for a championship or setting foot on a court--not even getting wasted at a party--not even close! Intercollegiate athletics has been the most rewarding experience in my life and I do not take it for granted.
Because you can’t afford to make
the wrong
choice about your college career!