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conjsports.com correspondent
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While the commitment of balancing college athletics with academics can pay dividends in the long run for four year student athletes, not every student who participates in college athletics actually lasts for all four years with their sport.
Some students can maintain that balance between athletics and academics, but other people struggle, and they find themselves no longer competing before they even graduate. Other factors play a role in this as well, such as injuries, loss of interest, or being cut from the team altogether. But, especially for non-scholarship Division III athletes, one of the more common reasons is students’ needing to focus more on school.
Regardless of how an athlete comes to leave the sport, each individual experience with balancing the studies with the lifestyle is unique and every athlete has an experience or takes something away from it all that differs to some degree to other athletes.
Two former student athletes, each track or cross country runners at their respective Division III schools, willingly spoke about their experiences balancing the academics with the life of an athlete.
There is no doubt how extensive the commitment is, and both men made that clear in opening up about their experiences.
“I did cross country my freshman and sophomore years so there was definitely less flexibility scheduling wise,” said John Strollo, currently a senior mechanical engineering major at Rowan University. “I tried to plan classes around practice as much as possible, but, sometimes, I would have to miss Friday classes as well as other important class time to go to meets and stuff.”
Despite the major conflicts with scheduling and practices, Strollo came to enjoy the break up in between study sessions.
“Catching up wasn’t too bad and I actually enjoyed the enjoyed the obligation,” said Strollo. “It kind of gave me a break from classwork, and a lot of times I would have to stop working on homework or studying to go to practice. Coming back to it after practice kept me fresh and focused a lot of the time.”
While Strollo found the balance enjoyable, not everyone has the same feelings towards the scheduling demand of a student athlete’s life.
“College athletics conflicted with my schoolwork on a weekly basis,” said Tristan Gibson, a former track short sprinter and current senior, public health major at the College of New Jersey. “Practices, meets, and meetings would all take up a substantial amount of time not allotting me to take the effective time to allocate towards my other responsibilities.”
While it was hard at first, Gibson admitted that he knew what he had signed up for and was able to adapt his time management to find that balance.
“Balancing this efficiently took some time but as time progressed my ability to balance both became more manageable,” said Gibson. “It was never easy, but as a student athlete that is part of the commitment that you sign up with.”
The two athletes also differ in how they have adjusted academically to their post-athletics lives.
“I didn’t really notice a change in my school performance after stopping cross country,” said Strollo. “I basically started doing other things like running on my own and going to the gym, which took the place of athletics for me with respect to breaking up school work and such.”
Strollo found that even without the obligations of a varsity sport weighing him down, he still sought to keep his schedule the way it had been and pursue other means of athletic activity during the hours previously reserved for practice each week.
As for Gibson, he looked at the new flexibility as an opportunity to better focus on his academics and future.
Yes, it has been significantly easier to manage school,” said Gibson. “I now have over 20 hours per week, not even including weekly competitions and meetings, that I can now use for studying, pursuing professional opportunities, conducting research, and lots of other aspects of school and my career that I was not able to pursue prior.”
In using this time to better himself academically and professionally, Gibson has been able to travel to different parts of the country for internships and other opportunities that have helped build his resume in the process.
While both of these students had differing experiences as student athletes, there were a few similarities as well, specifically pertaining to what they learned along the way.
“Just the ability to engage in time management and have a routine in which I follow consistently,” said Gibson of the lessons that his experiences have taught him. “By organizing what I was going to do every day by writing it down and setting reminders I was better able to manage my time between school and athletics and the same holds true even without track to worry about.”
Similar to Gibson, Strollo admits he benefits from the time management and scheduling habits he picked up from his time running competitively.
“Doing sports in college is a huge time commitment, so in order to stay afloat in academics, you have to plan out when to do work and stick to your schedules,” said Strollo. “Even though I don’t run at the college level anymore, I still manage my time and stick to my schedule as if I had the obligations of a college runner, using similar time management tactics, which has helped me for sure.”
It definitely proves to be intriguing how students who endure similar sports in college can have such differing experiences with keeping the lifestyle under control. While factors such as the two student’s majors and the environment of their schools could also have had an influence on their experiences, a lot of the factors were the same as these were two men of the same age who both participated in Division III cross country or track. Despite this, they experienced everything much differently.
“Without athletic obligation, I may not have ever learned how to manage my time as well as I currently can, which could’ve led to worse grades and possibly poor performance in class,” said Strollo.
While the struggle between school and sports is acknowledged, it is also appreciated by those who are able to better themselves because of it.