Being an athlete at the collegiate level is something not everyone gets to experience. It is usually something athletes spend many years of their lives working towards. As I have been able to pursue this opportunity I have learned a lot more about myself and others traveling down the same road. College sports are not like anything else. It’s a full time job. Every day you have a set schedule and there is no such thing as a day off. They say college is a mix of school, sleep, and social life and you only get to choose two. As a college athlete you throw in sports and are attempting to do the impossible, balance all four.
1. Majority of your closet is dedicated to your specific team.
From practice clothes, warm ups, and spirit wear, you are always representing. You truly can be considered either an athlete or walking advertisement of your school.
2. Practically crawling to class after a morning lift/conditioning session.
You know the feeling, texting your friends and teammates that if they see you lying on the sidewalk on their way to class to just leave you be. Then there is also the pain of leg day when you must give yourself an extra 10 minutes to walk place to place in order to make it on time.
3. Constantly wanting to eat, then going through with it because you know you’ll burn the calories off at practice.
Dang it, sometimes you just need a donut.
4. Showing up to lectures in sweats…all the time.
It's normal for all students except when it comes to athletes, it's strategic. Most of us go straight from class to practice and sweats are the easiest to quickly change out of or layer under.
5. Developing a stronger love for ice.
When do athletes apply ice? Athletes only apply ice after practice, games, workouts, and always to the occasional injury. It’s a love/ hate relationship.
6. Always being with a teammate or multiple teammates at a time.
Since everyone on the team has to have almost identical schedules, you can always find teammates together. We eat, study, walk to class, most of us even live together and that’s besides the hours of the day that we are together for our designated sport.
7. Strong ability to sleep on a bus.
It seems as though athletes get more sleep on a bus than in their own beds. The bus is a perfect place to catch up on some sleep.
8. Sharing is caring.
Even if you have your number on the side of the water bottle, it's fair game. No matter whose bottle it is, everyone will drink from it if it’s the closest one available. Hairbands? Get a 50 pack because I guarantee they will be gone in two weeks. It’s cold and you need an extra layer? Good thing Jenny always comes prepared.
9. The painful summer work outs.
What says summer more than a packet that tells you to do hours of cardio three times a week and required lifting four days a week?
10. That special feeling when you wake up on game days.
It is a feeling that can't be described, kind of like waking up on the morning of your birthday.
11. The opportunity to play the sport you love for a few more years.
Although some days are more difficult than others and sometimes you just feel so overwhelmed with everything, you still are happy to have the opportunity to experience what most aren’t able to.
