By Sam Keller ’19, Sports Editor

With the NCAA March Madness Tournament behind us, and the collegiate spring athletic season in full swing, among the thrilling competition and crushing defeats, previously unknown young stars emerge with almost celebrity status. But delving deeper, the life of a collegiate student-athlete is more than just what we see on television. Behind the scenes, the life of a student-athlete depends on considerable planning and preparation, establishing clear personal priorities and hours upon hours of physical training with the ultimate end game being the privilege of representing one’s school on a national stage.

Many children dream of becoming professional athletes from the first time they step foot on a field or court. Talk of collegiate recruitment and scholarships dominates the lives of many high school athletes. However, according to the NCAA, “of the nearly 8 million students currently participating in high school athletics in the United States, only 480,000 of them will compete at NCAA schools. And of that group, only a fraction will realize their goal of becoming a professional or Olympic athlete.” Most high school students, whose mission is to become a collegiate athlete, are used to the commitment it takes to excel in their sport. Many have played their sports from a young age, participating year-round on club and high school teams. However, playing on the collegiate stage demands an enhanced level of physical and time commitment. Training at a college level is not only about the hours of intense practice and game play, but also includes additional training time in the gym, altered nutrition, postgame time with trainers and extensive travel. The demands of these activities necessitate precise time management skills.  

While the outside observer might expect an athlete’s time commitment to his or her sport to supersede his or her engagement in academics, that is not the case for everyone. In an interview with University of Virginia Women’s Basketball starter, freshman Jocelyn Willoughby, she describes a route to avoiding this occurrence. Jocelyn ensures that athletic travel has a limited impact on her academics because she is “proactive with scheduling…so that I have a heavier class load on Monday, Wednesday and Friday since we play on Thursday and Sunday and that the classes scheduled on game days are the classes that are easier to miss (i.e. reading-based classes like sociology versus a problem-based class like calculus). That makes it easier to catch up.” When asked about the most challenging part of this travel, she focused on the preparation and planning required. Before departing for a weekday game, Jocelyn has to contact professors, pack personal and academic items, and reach out to family members because, “we don’t have our phones on the road.”

Beyond the physical toll and time demand that comes with collegiate athletics, the rigorous schedule can leave little time for athletes to pursue other social and extracurricular interests. Willoughby explains her choices: “I feel like I’ve gotten used to sacrificing parts of the ‘college experience’… Instead of thinking of it as sacrificing… it seems more like prioritizing what’s important to me, and what I think will bring me success. Academics are #1, basketball is #2, and social life and everything else falls into place after that.” Like Jocelyn, all collegiate athletes are forced to decide what is important to them and actively set their own personal priorities.

While a 25 to 40-hour weekly commitment may seem like a burden to some, the opportunity to travel as a collegiate athlete can also be viewed as a privilege. Unlike many Americans, student athletes get the opportunity to visit cities around the country, meet a variety of people, and develop close personal bonds with coaches, teammates and fans. Ultimately, the honor of being a student athlete is a privilege in and of itself.