By: Emily Zadny and Justyn Polk
Every college student, at some point, feels overwhelmed by the demands of school and trying to maintain friendships and relationships. It seems that there are just not enough hours in the day to get everything done as well as eat and sleep.
But for student athletes, the balancing act of fitting everything into the day gets tougher when practice, games, and travel all become factors.
Student athletes strive to obtain four key elements to their lives known as the Four Cornerstones of a Student Athlete’s Life: sleep, good grades, being good at their sport, and having a social life.
Here’s the catch: with only 24 hours in a day and many of those hours taken up by class and athletics, there’s only enough time to have only two of those. And that’s where the choices get difficult.
Everyone wants all of those, and do you blame them? The ideal of being the all-around student and athlete? Sounds pretty nice.
If only it was as simple as it sounds.
It becomes an exhausting process planning out your day hour by hour. Do you stay in and study on your off day from practice or do you go see your friends who think you have fallen off the face of their Earth since you started your sport? Do you take that 30-minute nap in your rare free time or do you go to practice early and get in a few extra reps?
It sounds terrible and many people ask, “If it’s so hard, then why do you do it?” And student athletes with busy schedules like senior volleyball player, track and field athlete, and athletic training and psychology double major Kedryn Orrison will respond that they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s just the nature of being a college athlete,” said Orrison. “But it’s about how you cope with that stress and time manage. There is so much going on between class, practice, eating, sleeping, and homework, that sometimes it is really overwhelming.
“You learn really quickly, by both failing and succeeding, how to schedule for everything,” she added.
As a dual sport athlete, Orrison estimates that on average, she spends about 21 hours per week studying, most of those hours after on Sundays or on weekdays after 7:30 p.m., 7 hours of sleep per night, and Friday and Saturdays when she doesn’t have games or meets with friends, and roughly 28 hours a week for volleyball in the fall and 30 hours for a track meet.
If you do the math, that’s a lot of hours. Orrison feels that the choice of which two aspects she could have was made for her because of her schedule.
“Your time schedule choses those for you; for me, its sleep and sports,” she said. “In a way sports is a form of social life, especially since it’s with most of my friends. Plus sports is a way to get away from the stress of school—unless its sports that are stressing me out—and my second choice would be sleep because if I don’t, I get very irritable and don’t get anything done.”
North Central College athletes are fortunate to be a part of a school that respects and values the athletic tradition. Orrison feels that the feeling of a Cardinal community makes the stress of being a student athlete less noticeable at times.
“This campus, in a way, revolves around its athletics and sports teams, so it is really awesome to be a part of that tradition,” she said. “I think the relationship that I’ve made with my teammates is what I like the most. There is no way I would have met all the amazing girls that I’ve played with here without being a part of athletics.
“I love competing, but there is nothing like competing with your friends,” she added.
Orrison isn’t the only student athlete that feels the pressure of college athletics in the balance of college life.
Sophomore exercise science major and Cardinals’ baseball pitcher, Nick Anderson, also understands the importance of balance in the life as a student-athlete.
“Being an athlete is who I am, I love competition,” Anderson said on why he decided to take the challenge of being a student-athlete.
Outside of school and baseball, Anderson also works at Life Fitness. With such a hectic schedule, Anderson does a great job with time management but agrees that the greatest struggle for student athlete is time management. Between coming back late form road games and having juggling practice with class, Anderson has learned how to adjust his schedule to reduce stress.
“Depending on when your practices are, try to group all of your classes together as back-to-back as possible,” says Anderson on athletes adjusting their schedules to eliminate stress. “I, personally, prefer to study at night. For me, it’s easier to have everything in the afternoon free; it’s a lot more flexible.”
Anderson’s schedule during the season leaves little room for anything outside of studies, school, and sometimes sleep. He scheduled all of his classes in the early mornings because baseball practice usually starts anywhere between noon and 1:30 p.m. until 3 p.m. then he works from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., leaving him some time to study before going to sleep. Anderson says he spends ten to 12 hour studying per week and 23 hours roughly per week dedicated to baseball between buses and games.
“Social life diminishes. I hang out with my teammates in the season,” Anderson continued “Otherwise, I spend a lot of time in my room.” He also offers advice to all student-athletes to sleep whenever you can.
While to most college students the idea of not sleeping or socializing much is not even imaginable, Anderson does not seem to obsess about missing those aspects of his everyday life. When asked to choose two of the four cornerstones to focus solely on, Anderson replied “studying and sport” without hesitation. He continued to elaborate on his choices by saying “it’s not a yearlong season, so you can sleep whenever.”
