After my freshman year, I realized that there are two kinds of people in college: the varsity athletes...and everyone else. For everyone who doesn't fall under the varsity athlete category, I hate to break it to you, but you are a NARP: a non-athletic regular person. For all of you who identify as a NARP, or literally just found out that you're now in-fact considered "regular and non-athletic," you will understand the following pains and joys that come with no longer being your hot-shot athletic self that you once were in high school.
The Pains:
1. Your glory days are behind you.
No one really cares about your high school athletic career, so don't bother bragging to your new friends about the time you scored the game-winning goal to clinch the state championship...because the only response you're going to get is: "So if you're that good, why aren't you playing in college?" And in that case...cue eye roll because NO ONE UNDERSTANDS.
2. You suddenly don't have an automatic social life.
It was so easy to make friends in high school because you spent basically every waking hour with your teammates. You bonded over near-death experiences during conditioning workouts, mutual hatred for rivalries, and the agony of waking up at 7 a.m. on Saturday mornings for practice. But now in college, without the security blanket of your high school team, you are forced to make friends for yourself. Shoot.
3. The freshman 15, sophomore 20, etc., are very real things.
Three weeks into college with an unlimited meal plan will leave you feeling nostalgic for those daily suicides and 10-minute pre-practice conditioning runs.
4. Competition takes on a very different meaning in your life.
High school rivals are no longer your competition. Satisfaction no longer comes from winning games in double overtime. Instead, the most competition you deal with as a NARP in college is at the beer pong table or during a flip-cup tournament.
The Joys:
1. No strict schedules, eating plans, or daunting practices.
You can go out with all your NARP friends, doing NARP things, and feel great about it. You enjoy Friday nights without having to worry about early Saturday morning practices. You can venture into the dining hall and eat two bowls of mac and cheese without the threat of run tests holding you back. You can binge watch Netflix for hours (or days) because you have nothing else to do...and you are totally fine with that.
2. Club Sports
Club teams allow you to play your favorite sports without the intensity of college athletics. Can you say real life Hannah Montana? Plus, you get to go out the night before a game and laugh (or cry) with your teammates during warm-ups about how hungover you are. Fun, right!?
3. You have a wider, more diverse group of friends.
Practices, games, team dinners...you spent almost every ounce of free time with your team. But now that you don't have that built-in friend group, you have the ability and time to interact with so many other kinds of people with interests that don't necessarily revolve around sports. Plus, you have something to bond over: you're all NARPs together who can eat mac and cheese on a daily basis and have #noregrets about it.
4. You get to do what you want, when you want.
Save the responsibility and commitment gig for after graduation...am I right or am I right?
