Things Only Student Athletes Will Relate To

Student athletes are unlike any normal college student. They have different demands and responsibilities. Their schedules are incredibly full. There are some things that have to be mindful of, and other things that they don’t have to worry about, like normal students. Read on for more of what only student-athletes will be able to relate to.

Ultimate life balance techniques

College athletes lead an insanely busy life. Trying to balance studies, their sports, having a social life, and getting enough sleep is a fine art. Maybe the first few years of being a student athlete are spent trying to find this balance, but when you find it – you could write a book on time management. The trick that all of the successful and happy student athletes know is that each one is important. You can’t continue to be a college athlete if your studies aren’t going well. Keeping up grades is essential. 

Similarly, you have to make it to the practices and games. When you don’t have a social life, you won’t feel fueled by having these connections or have any friends to cheer you on, watch your games, or be there for you to hear about the horrible practice. And finally, if you’re not getting enough sleep, you can’t do any of those things! So student athletes definitely learn how to balance their lives, and we admire them for it!

The emotional waves when practice changes

Student athletes will know the heart-shattering feeling of waking up super early after a late night out, or after saying no to that party that you wanted to go to, and the coach sending a message that practice has been pushed back for another hour. 

The disappointment is huge when you know that you could have had an extra hour of sleep and now you are awake for no reason. The same goes for when practice is canceled. Sometimes that’s actually a super happy feeling, knowing that you have a few hours free that you totally never expected can be super delightful. Time to catch up on sleep! Or studies… 

Climbing stairs is not fun

For any normal student making their way to class, climbing the stairs may be a breeze. For a student athlete who spent 4 hours working their legs in practice the day before, stairs are their mortal enemy. The irony is, when slowly taking each step one by one with a look of pain on your face, some people who don’t know that you’re an athlete might look at you and think that you’re probably just super unfit. Little do they know!

The joy of eating whatever you want
When you’re spending multiple hours a day working out, you need to take in a lot of fuel. The beauty of being a college athlete is that you really don’t have to worry so much about eating ’too much.’ Actually, it’s rather more about whether you are eating enough. So, while your friends say no to second helpings or dessert, you get to simply smile and shovel more food in without any guilt whatsoever.

Being bruised and battered

It’s a regular occurrence to find student athletes comparing their brushes and wounds with teammates after practice and games. Regular students might not understand, but there is something about it that can even make athletes proud of their marks – like it shows how hard they’ve worked.

Being bruised and battered isn’t fun, but it does give student athletes a whole lot of appreciation for the gifts of ice baths and foam rolling.