We live in a world that is basically run by sports. I can't think of one place you can go and not be exposed to something based off of athletics.

This has evolved our thinking to have our whole lives revolve around this, even if we aren't directly involved at all. And I'm not talking about just athletes doing this for any sport and every sport, we all know that one person who has never worked out a day in their life and their schedule is molded around games they "absolutely can not miss." It is that exact mentality that is poisoning us today and making us become the Athlete-Student.

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 or a meet and then that was that. Homework probably took an hour so you didn't really have to worry about it, you knew it was easy and going to get done in a short amount of time. This daily routine kept us busy and gave us a structured day, which I know us athletes appreciate whole heartedly.

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 love every minute of this.

This is not the case.

Our freshman year we start to make the choices. The choices of doing the extra workout or the extra homework; the extra hour studying or the 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.

I wish that was true.

You start to be consumed over getting better, being a starter, making conferences, regionals, maybe even nationals, that you make the athletic choice. You start to choose to skip that study group, that supplemental instructor session, the extra credit, just to get that extra work in that doesn't even guarantee you a starting position or that spot in conferences. What it does guarantee you is you getting more and more overwhelmed in schoolwork until you hit a breaking point.

Some of us don't realize 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 this is you, then you, my friend have become the Athlete-Student. You didn't come to college to play a sport, chances are that you won't ever become a professional athlete. So why are you acting like one?

You are the student-athlete.

You are a driven person. You are goal oriented and you know where you want to go in life. You know you came here for the education, but the athletics are a treat. The concept of the GPA is a very important thing to you, and you know it'll make or break you for that internship or entry-level job.

Yes, I know employers love to hire former student-athletes, but they do this for our time management and organizational skills being a student-athlete develops. Not because you had the most rushing yards, home-runs, or ran a stupid fast mile.

I hope you're like me. You structure your day around your academic needs over your athletic needs. At the end of the day, you are at college to become a professional in the degree, not in your sport.

I'm proud of my excessive studying, but I'm proud of my athletics too.

I'm a Student-Athlete.

My academics define me, not my sport.