It took years of practice, hundreds of games, a few mental breakdowns (OK maybe more than a few), and the love and support of your parents and coaches, but you did it: you’re a college athlete. You got that letter of intent your senior year of high school and when you finally signed it, you felt like you were on top of the world. And once you get to college, it quickly becomes pretty evident to everyone around you that you’re an athlete.
1. You are visibly sore and complaining about it all the time.
Whether your arms are about to fall off from maxing your bench at lift the day before or you’re walking with a limp from running sprints until you got physically sick, everyone around you knows how sore you are, mostly because you’re having a little too much trouble even moving enough to sit down at your desk. And if they aren’t paying attention to your struggle, you’ll have no trouble throwing a “wow, I’m SO sore today” their way.
2. You don't go anywhere unless at least two of your teammates are with you.
When you sign that letter of intent you sign up for more than just playing a sport, you sign up for a family. You spend all of your little free time with your team. You go to dining hall and spend hours in the library together, and there’s a pretty good chance you live with some of your teammates too. People around you take notice and start to wonder if you guys are actually a college sports team or a cult.
3. You find it hard to wear clothes that aren't sweats or don't have your sport's name plastered all over them.
What do you mean I can’t wear my travel sweatsuit? What are non-athletic clothes? Does my softball hoodie count?
4. You get absolutely no sleep and it shows in your appearance.
People start to question you on why you look so terrible. “I don’t know maybe because I had 5 a.m. lift this morning and got about four hours of sleep?” I’m trying my best here.
5. And you start to nap any time you can anywhere you can.
“I have 30 minutes between now and my next class. That chair over there looks comfy I’ll nap there and set my alarm for 17 minutes”.
6. "Sorry I can't I have practice/games/lift."
Hanging out with people who aren’t on your team is almost impossible. Unless they have the same exact schedule as you, chances are you won’t see them very often. Your non-athlete friends try to make plans with you, but after the first several attempts they realize that they probably won’t be hanging out with you any time in the near future.
7. You're that person in class who either comes in obnoxiously late or is never there at all.
Once you’re in season, keeping up with class gets obscenely hard. It always seems like your practices line up perfectly with your class times, making you that person that always comes in 15 minutes after the professor starts his or her lecture. Your presence in class starts to dwindle as you start to travel and everyone wonders whether you’re even still in this class.
8. Even though people sometimes make fun of you for these giveaways, you're secretly really proud to have these connotations associated with you.
Only a small percentage of high school athletes make it to where you are, and that’s something to be extremely proud of. So go out there and rock that abrasively school spirited sports apparel with your puffy “I didn’t get any sleep last night eyes," you deserve it.
