Being a college student is extremely difficult because you have a plethora of work to accomplish as well as a job, extracurricular activities and other possible tasks. To add onto the struggle of being in college, is participating on a sports team: a student athlete. Whether it is division one, two, three or even juco, playing on a team in college takes up a substantial amount of time. Written below you will see the top five struggles that a student-athlete faces on a daily basis.
1. GPA falling under scholarship minimum.
If you are receiving an academic or athletic scholarship, you must keep your GPA typically over a 3.0 to maintain that scholarship. If it falls under the minimum you receive a warning, but if it happens more than once, your scholarship gets revoked. Balancing out your studies with a two to three-hour practice and a 6 a.m. conditioning workout isn't easy, so it is imperative to focus in class and study any chance you can get.
2. Trying to teach yourself the curriculum.
Coaches never have a problem with their players missing practice for class, but there are some meetings and obligations players must attend that causes them to miss class. If you miss your math or biology class and the class only meets once a week, all I have to say is good luck and may the gods be with you. It's not easy to teach yourself something you've never heard of, so make sure you have a few friends in each class that can give you the notes that you missed.
3. Lack of money -- don't plan on going anywhere nice!
You're a full time college student. That means you're taking at least 12 credits but most likely more than that. On top of that, you have practice and/or games six or seven days a week. If you luckily receive a day off, you're most likely catching up on the extreme amount of work or studying for three tests coming up. You better save up your money in the summer and think before you spend, because once the season hits there is no way you're working.
4. Love/hate relationship with game day.
You love game days because you get to show how hard you've been working and represent your school. There's no better feeling than putting on your jersey and participating in a competitive game with a bunch of friends you've grown close with. You hate game days because of the aftermath. Student athletes are excused from class on days of sporting events, but they are responsible of catching up on all of the work and handing everything in the next day. Some professors make you take the test before leaving for your game, so that gives you less time to prepare yourself.
5. Studying on the bus.
Studying on the bus is what all student athletes have done in their college experience. There is nothing harder than trying to read a book or trying to write a paper when a bus is driving over bumps and everyone on the bus are speaking to each other and listening to music. You may ask your teammates to be quiet but we all know that isn't entirely going to happen, so your best bet is to just throw in a pair of headphones and try your best. You chose this life, now stick with it!
