I am a Student Athlete
We live in a world that revolves around sports. It is almost impossible to think of one place you can go and not be exposed to something related to the athletic world.
In high school being an athlete was easy. You went to class, stayed after classes until 5 p.m., maybe later if you had a game and that was the end of the story. The teachers loved us, so we never worried about having to miss class for a game because it was excused every time. If we was ever assigned homework it took maybe an hour, so you never have to worry about it. We had set schedule that we based all four of our high school years upon. Our daily routine included workouts, practices, team lunches, games, pep rallies and weekend tournaments. This daily routine kept us busy and gave us a structured day, which us athletes appreciate wholeheartedly.
This is what drives us to become a student-athlete in college. We want to have the competition while having structured day, every day, and loving every minute of it. Sports always kept our focus and gave us a family. This is not the case. Especially in Berea, whereas we have required labor obligations and college professors refuse to excuse miss classes.
Our freshman year, we are faced with decisions. The choice between doing the extra workout or finishing the homework assignment; the extra hour of studying or extra cardio; going to bed early to recover or staying up to feel confident about your exam the next day. At a glance, these decisions seem trivial and easy to make. However, it is just not that simple.
You start to be consumed over getting better, becoming a starter, making conferences, regional, maybe even nationals, that you make the athletic choice. You start to choose to skip that study group, the TA session, the extra credit, just to get the extra work in. All this comes at the cost of becoming overwhelmed in schoolwork until you hit a breaking point.
We have this mindset without realizing it. We let the thought of being a student athlete take us through our whole collegiate career and let it control and dictate each and every decision for us. If you choose to fit your class schedule around your practice schedule, then you, my friend have become the Athlete-Student. Before deciding to play a sport in college, you need sit back and decide, if you want to be a student-athlete or an athlete-student.
I am a student-athlete. I came to Berea for the education and the athletics are just a treat.
Yes, I know employers love to hire former student-athletes, but they look at the time management and organizational skills being a student-athlete develops. Not because you had the most rushing yards, home-runs, or ran the fastest mile.
I hope you're like me. Your day is structured around your academic needs over your athletic needs. You are at college to become a professional in the degree, not in your sport. I want my academics to define me, not my sport.
