1. How to juggle your time.
A typical student-athlete practices around 12 hours a week leaving barely any free time. Being a student athlete will have someone using any amount of time to do whatever work they can—even if they have only a 15-minute time slot, you can find them doing at least one problem on any homework assignment. Free time is a gift that us student-athletes know how to use wisely!
2. Complaining doesn’t get you very far.
Coach, what do you mean whining all practice and during the run won’t get me out of these six miles today? (So guilty of this). After a seven-hour school day, us student athletes are exhausted by the time we get to practice, and of course, full of complaints. But eventually, we learn it doesn’t do ourselves, or our team, any good. It just brings everyone’s mood down, even more so with time, student athletes learn to just deal with it! It’s a tough lifestyle, which requires a strong-headed mentality. Complaining only gets us more sprints to do at the end of an already grueling practice.
3. How to make friends with everyone.
If there’s one important thing being a student-athlete taught me, it was definitely how to be a more sociable person. You are surrounded by your team more than your friends who don’t do sports, and there’s no way you can’t grow to love these people. Through every long run at practice, someone’s life story has come out. Can you imagine running for an hour in total silence? There’s no fun in that. Being with these people all the time forces you to immerse yourself around all different kinds of people. I found myself making friends with people I had never even seen around school before, and I’m thankful that I did. Your teammates become your best friends. It’s said so often, but it really is true.
4. How to love exercising.
Loving exercise? That just sounds weird. In all honesty, I hated exercising, and then I became a student athlete. With all the work I was doing in school and at home, I was getting bored with my life. I felt like all I had and all that I was doing was school. Joining a sport may have added to my workload and taken up a lot of my time, but it gave me something to look forward to after an exhausting day at school. The most strenuous workouts left me feeling the best afterward. Eventually, you learn to look forward to the hill workouts followed by additional mileage. Exercising really does help to clear your head and takes your mind off of things, especially the stress of school!
5. The work is worth it.
No matter what your reason was for joining sports during school—to get a better body, to pursue your passion for the game, or just out of pure boredom (like me!)—the most valuable lesson that can be taken from the journey endured by a student athlete is that hard work pays off. After countless practices and hours spent perfecting skills or form, progress will happen. And, believe me, when I say nothing is better than being able to see and feel progress occur! It can take seasons and years of doing the sport, but eventually, you will get better. Not only is the work worth it to see yourself improve in the game, but the work is worth it because of your team. My team has become my family and I couldn’t imagine my high school experience without any one of them. All the 7 a.m. practices and track meets that went from 3 p.m. to midnight on Fridays—these are memories that I look back on and am fondest of. Sure, being a student athlete means we have an absolutely packed schedule, but the memories that come out of all the hard work we put in? 100 percent worth it.
