During my first semester at Maryville College, a typical day for me became waking up early for 6 a.m. conditioning, dragging myself to my classes, spending two plus hours on the tennis court in the evenings, and staying up late to study for the next morning. And I would not change a thing about it. As a biochemistry major, I have to make sure I have time to get the grades I need to get into my future graduate school. Playing tennis, though it seems would pose a challenging schedule, turned out to be what kept me sane and organized this semester. I learned how to schedule my study time around practice. While at the same time going to practice allowed me to have social time and have a few stress free hours before I had to study for another chemistry quiz. Being a member of the team also provided me with a wonderful support system. Not only were my teammates supportive of my endeavors, they also provided insight and advice on my coursework while also giving me the sympathy any person taking General Chemistry requires.
Being on a team is something I have done my whole life. I went to a very small high school, so I participated in almost every sport so we could have a team. Of all the teams I have been on, this team has been the best one yet. Tennis may be perceived as a lone-man kind of sport, but one has to count on the other to perform in order to take victory. In the short time we were together for the fall we all became very close. We woke up together to run sprints in the Alumni Gym at 6 a.m., met up in the afternoon to hit on the court, and usually ended the day with a meal in Pearsons.
One thing I was apprehensive about when joining a collegiate team was the social aspect of a new team. As I said above, I went to a small high school and I had known just about all of my old pals for years. So having to get to know new people was something that was very stressful for me. However, by the time came for me to meet my new teammates, I had been through the three weeks of the Scots Science Scholars bridge program and through another week of freshman orientation. Now all I had to worry about was fitting in with the older players. Being added to a GroupMe for tennis was a very exciting day for me, which shows how much of a freshie I was…and probably still am. When they announced we were all going to get together to hit, I became really nervous. But the moment I stepped on the court for the first time after walking down the steep Copeland parking lot, it all felt right. Each person welcomed me and never once did I feel like I had to earn their respect through some kind of ritual. Being on a college team is the best decision I could have made and recommend it to all.
That was my first semester. Today I reflect on a year of growth, setbacks (a better word for failure), and personal victories. Today marks a month after the end of my first year of college. I wrote the top portion of this in January for a profile piece for our school newspaper the Highland Echo. And by the way, I survived first semester and second semester Gen Chem with only a few tears shed! Playing tennis was hard. Just to be honest. It mixed the stress of school with the stress of sport. One of the worst kinds of stress in my opinion. This kind of stress comes from within yourself. The hard realizations that you’re not good enough or that you could’ve done better. Nonetheless, this stress didn’t prevent the inevitable. A constant that I found in my first year of college was the constant nagging of my GPA. It kept telling me how it could be treated better, to stop everything and read the reading for bib the next day. But in this, I also learned mixing sports and academics forced compromise. I made a lot of sacrifices. I sacrificed a plus sign for a minus sign in some classes in order to play my sport. I sacrificed sleep…a lot of sleep. However, I learned something that I can bring with me into next year/season. I can bring the confidence, something I have very little of, of knowing that I survived a semester of advanced general chemistry, lab reports, two-plus hour practices, and falling short of the optimistic goals I set at the beginning of the year. That last one was a bit melancholy. But that part is me learning to be realistic, but not too realistic. I can expect of myself to accomplish amazing things, knowing that it may not work out. And that’s okay. Because I know that since I did it once, I can do it again, and even better. *whips*
