Collegiate athletics.
Collegiate athletics is a unique experience filled with new adventures, frustrating setbacks, and amazing triumphs. Nothing could truly sum up the crazy world of a college athlete, but keep reading to find out the good, the bad, and the ugly of our everyday lives.
1. Constantly being tired.
Between typical college life and added practices, you sometimes find yourself feeling and looking an awful lot like a zombie. Did someone say coffee?!
2. Never-ending soreness.
If coach decides to kill you at practice, you better make sure that you allow yourself at least five extra minutes to get to class on time the next day. Let’s be honest, it is a normal thing to have to practically pick up and drag your legs across campus.
3. Long bus rides are terrible.
Oh bus the dreaded bus rides. Between that one teammate that gets car sick on every trip, the endless snapchats, and the pre-competition nerves… bus rides make for an interesting experience. If you’re really lucky you will find yourself on a bus with no heat for a couple hours on a freezing cold morning (true story).
4. But at the same time, you grow to love long bus rides.
You know it has been a long week when the bus suddenly becomes dead quite and your entire team is fast asleep... that bus ride may be the best sleep you get all week. Who turns down a nap anyway, right?
5. Your coach is overly interested in your life.
Just tell him. He’ll find out anyway.
6. Getting sick is really not an option.
Getting sick during the competitive season is basically a nightmare. You are caught between wanting to compete and not wanting to get out of bed. The secret to overcoming it? Advil- and lots of it.
7. Injuries are scary.
Wait was that pain in my leg? Is that just soreness? Does my ankle look swollen?
No one wants to be that teammate that has to sit out because they’re injured, so you obviously start thinking every little ache and pain is a serious problem…. Not to mention the trainers start becoming your best friends.
8. Forever trying to squeeze in the most amount of homework in before practice.
Let’s be honest, no one wants to sit down and finish homework after a long practice. Therefore, you start cramming your work into every free minute you have between classes and practice. And a word from the wise, if you truly only let yourself do homework before practice, you will actually look forward to it instead of dreading it.
9. Going to the dining hall in practice clothes is perfectly acceptable.
Showing up in nasty, sweaty workout clothes is a typical thing. I mean, when you get out of practice at 7pm and the dining hall closes at 7:30pm there is no time to change… let alone wiping the mud off your legs. Oops.
10. Competing against high school teammates is a weird experience.
There is no doubt that your high school team will always hold a very special place in your heart. So it is no wonder that seeing some of your closest friends in a different uniform and with a different team just feels wrong. You may even start feeling defensive… “Hey, she was mine first!!”
11. Workout schedules are largely anticipated.
Getting that anxiously awaited text from your coach explaining the workout can either be the best part of your day or the worst part of your day.
12. Missing afternoon classes are a regular thing.
It sounds like a dream, but when you find yourself drowning in makeup work on a Sunday night after a weekend of traveling, you start questioning what you were thinking when you choose to dive into the crazy world of collegiate athletics.
13. Arguments about food are no surprise.
Sometimes deciding on what restaurant to go to on the bus ride back to campus can be the most intense part of the day.
14. You have a love/hate relationship with ice baths.
It’s basically willful torture…. but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do right?
15. You realize how lucky you are.
At the end of the day you cannot deny that you love your team, your coach, and all the craziness that comes along with collegiate athletics. You have been given a unique opportunity that so many people only dream about...Savor every minute.
