I come from an athletic family, and I’ve done my fair share of sports. I just finished my track career from my college I recently graduated from. Over the years, I’ve heard so many things from non-athletes that make me want to break down in tears. And I’m not bashing non-athletes; I have many friends who don’t play sports. But there are just some things we athletes are sick of hearing.
1. "You're actually smart?"
Isn’t it crazy, an athlete being smart? Why are we all expected to be brainless and only know how to excel at our sports? Now I know there are the athletes that aren’t academically gifted. But there are more of us who are average and above average students. We have to maintain good grades to stay in school and stay playing our sport. And most of us go to college for the education; we usually don’t expect to become professional athletes (except that would be a dream, wouldn’t it?).
2. "You're actually a really nice person."
Wow, thank you. I sometimes forget that even athletes can be nice people. Again, there are some bad apples in the bunch of athletes, but for the most part all of us are decent human beings. Which is very surprising to people, I think athletes intimidate some students. But we are humans just like you!
3. "Why do you eat so much?"
Uh, because food is great? But honestly, we have to eat more than everyone else because of all the calories we burn in games and practices. Don’t worry about our food intact, unless it seems like we aren’t eating enough. Then you should worry. But other than that, we know we eat a lot. Our wallets and bank accounts suffer from our eating habits.
4. "Why do you always have ice/tape?" or "Why do you always stretch in public?"
Some athletes are gifted with bodies that don't need ice, tape, or anything else to keep us somewhat together for our sport. But for many of us, if we don't have our bodies taped, wrapped with ace bandages, or have our brace for whatever joint needs it, then we'll have a rough practice or performance. Unfortunately we need this to keep us from falling apart. The ice helps to reduce our pain and swelling. Stretching all the time in public is from our many, many knots and sore muscles. We don't see it as strange at all.
5. "Why do you never dress up?"
Let's see, morning practice, then classes, then afternoon or night practice, then homework, then bed. There is just no time in our days to dress up anymore. So if you see us in jeans, just know that it's a huge deal. We would dress up more if we had the time or patience for it, but getting enough sleep is a bigger deal than looking decent. Not only this but real clothes don't always fit us, and it's stressful trying to fit our muscles into uncomfortable clothes when we can just slip on sweats and a hoodie.
6. "It's only (insert your sport here), that's not a big deal."
Not a big deal? NOT a big deal? Are you kidding? We don't say that your hobbies aren't a big deal! Our sport is our life. We love it more than most people, sometimes more than any boyfriend or girlfriend we could ever have. Our sport is what keeps us going throughout the day, through school, through anything. It's our happy place, and what releases our stress at the end of a rough day. Don't bash our sport, and we won't bash your hobbies.
7. "You're always busy, can't you skip practice or something?"
As much as I would love to skip practice and sleep or catch up on work, I unfortunately can’t do this because I don’t want to be punished or even kicked off the team. Not playing sports may require us to be less stressed, but what would we do in our free time without them? We don’t get do sit around all the time and do nothing. We have homework and other obligations just like you!
8. "Why don't you just quit?"
This question usually follows after we complain to our non-sport playing peers about practice, a game or meet, or about our teammates or coaches. We all think about quitting. But when it comes down to it, the idea of actually quitting is so foreign and crazy to us. We love our sport, even though it has its rough moments. We wouldn’t change playing it for the world.
