Balancing School and Sport Life as a College Athlete 

Balancing academic and athletic commitments is a hefty task that requires planning, discipline, and an awareness of how to prioritize. When you’re an athlete, it works very well when you set goals and try to give yourself some sort of levels that you must pass. Being reasonable in setting a goal means you must be aware of the time constraints that occur because of having intense training schedules, competitions, and travel.  

Executing a time management schedule is an essential piece in accomplishing the ways of academic and athletic commitments. This consists of intense planning, making way for specific time for classes, study hours, practices, and events for the team in general including games. Within one of the interviews that I have conducted with Cole Elmore, in which he is a coach at Wichita State golf coach in Kansas says “a lot of coaches say that 8 hours a day can be training, 6-8 can be academics and the last 6-8 could be sleeping or anything else that needs to be accomplished” (mind you this is just during the competitive season with days off included). Now that can be for a more serious athlete that may not have a job during the competitive season. Some can cut those hours in half and give themself 6-8 hours to work or just enjoy their life outside of their sport and work/school life.  An organized set of tasks dedicated to certain times of the day not only influences meeting academic deadlines, but also ensures consistent preparation for athletic endeavors.  

Prioritizing tasks is a needed skill for student athletes looking to contain a balance between academia and athletics. It can look like trying to decide whether you want to attend a super important class session or go to a meeting that your coach had set up for the team that was important to attend. Sometimes it can look like deciding between taking an exam or going to a big game to advance to a championship. According to Success Starts Within  where Eli Straw who's a sport psychology consultant and mental game coach puts a big emphasis on “negative impact on poorly managed time as a student athlete”. He says that it results in “increased anxiety, lower classroom performance, lower performance on the field/court, and depression.” 

There are ways to get through this battle, though, and there are resources within the school that allow for things to get done in a comfortable manner. According to Eli Straw where he wrote for Success Starts Within, he gave a list of tips to get started: 

1. Identify your top priorities

2. Plan on a weekly basis 

3. Use a daily schedule

4. Be flexible 

Using the tools on our smartphones or even paper such as planners, calendars, or apps can help keep a consistent, structured overview of both academic and athletic practices. According to Swimming World Magazine   where Kelsey Mitchell wrote about time management tips for student athletes, she says it's a good idea to “finish assignments in chronological order, use a planner or calendar, and avoid procrastination”. Going through a thorough process of planning and having an organizational timetable for your daily routine will allow for a much more stress free and strong based adventure through your schooling. Especially if you must focus on multiple things like social life, academics, athletics, work, and more, it is ideal to have some sort of plan that you can visually reference. 

Coping with Performance Pressure as a College Athlete 

Dealing with something like performance pressure is something that a college athlete is going to be doing a lot, whether it is with academics or athletics. To get through this pressure comfortably and successfully, athletes often turn to a combination of mindfulness techniques, visualization, and mental preparation, along with the cultivation of a positive mindset. In an article in Applied Sport Psych  where Dr. Jennifer Cumming at the University of Birmingham researched sport imagery training, she said, “Top athletes use imagery extensively to build on their strengths and help eliminate their weaknesses. To compete more effectively, imagery not only helps athletes to regulate the anxiety they experience during competitions, but also helps athletes to stay confident, focused and mentally tough”. Your mind is much more powerful than you think and using it to the fullest can be overlooked sometimes. Visualizing what you want to happen in terms of mental preparation is a crucial component of a college athlete's arsenal for handling performance pressure. 

In my Interview with Dr. Krystina Sarff, who is a sport management professor at North Central College, she told me that one of her best ways to deal with it was “I would have the same mindset all week and it really would not change for the game”.  

It's important for athletes to visualize successful performances, imagining themselves executing skills flawlessly and achieving their goals. This mental rehearsal not only promotes confidence but also helps reduce anxiety by giving the mind a look into what a  positive outcome looks like.  

Executing pre-competition routines and mental rehearsals results in a sense of familiarity for the brain. According to my interviewee Ryan who was a college athlete at Western Michigan before he graduated in spring 2023. He would always have the pregame butterflies before he stepped on the ice for his hockey game. In his junior year he started to “play what I believe is going to happen in the game, in my head for the whole two hours before the game”. He claimed that this would give him a boat load more of confidence when he stepped on the ice, which also then contributed to a calmer and more focused mindset when the pressure is on. 

Adopting a positive mindset is a fundamental aspect of coping with performance pressure. According to Spooner  where their team talks about how yoga and meditation can benefit an athlete's mind and body, they said “key components of training off the court are meditation and breathing, whether through yoga or practiced on their own. The importance of breathing techniques is sometimes overlooked by athletes.” These techniques have endless benefits in the short and long run for college athletes.  A positive mindset involves setting reasonable expectations and focusing on the process rather than solely on outcomes, so if you do something the way you wanted to, but the result wasn’t how you wanted it to be, do not react. By breaking down large goals into smaller, manageable steps, athletes can alleviate the perceived magnitude of the challenges they face. For example, in my experience playing college golf, my coach had me come up with a routine and a process for my golf game. I did not just search for results. So, I couldn’t get mad at myself for the result because the result is not as controllable as being able to control the process and how you access the task. I would have a routine for each shot, I would have 5 steps that I would follow and if I checked each step there was nothing else, I could do or control. So really, homing in on ways to make your journey achievable is HUGE.  

Self-care and Mental Health betterment for the College Athlete 

Self-care and mental health status are a huge part of the way college athletes' ventures turn out in terms of results with academics or sport. The intense demands of academics and athletics can wear you out both physically and mentally. To get through these challenges in an accomplished fashion, it is important for athletes to prioritize getting adequate rest, maintaining proper nutrition, and incorporating relaxation techniques into their routines. A former student athlete gave some tips for mental health and wellbeing at NCAA : 

• Visualization 

• Positive self-talk  

• Relaxation 

• Preparation  

• Balance 

Being able to incorporate these tips into your self-care will often result in a more sustainable journey through your college athletics.  

Quality sleep is not only super important for physical recovery, but cognitive function, and emotional wellbeing. As reported by International Universities Strength and Conditioning Association, “Studies show that sleep deprivation can increase reaction times more than 300%. Fatigue due to insufficient sleep impairs reaction times in a similar manner to drinking alcohol.” Lack of sleep results in an almost 20% rise in the perceived difficulty of moderate to high-intensity exercise. Considering that extending sleep improves daytime alertness, vigilance, and mood, it becomes evident that sufficient sleep can improve the capacity to endure intense training sessions. Prioritizing consistent sleep patterns and engaging in sufficient hours of rest influence enhanced physical performance, improved focus, and better mood regulation. 

Proper diet or nutrition is not only crucial for external health but also plays a significant role in supporting our internal mental wellbeing. Explained by Access Sports Med  athletes should incorporate the following practices into their routine: avoid skipping meals, establish a consistent eating schedule, prioritize hydration, and make wise choices when snacking.Top of Form 

Enjoying relaxation techniques is another crucial aspect of self-care for college athletes. The pressures of academic expectations and athletic performance can lead to heightened stress levels and athletes often find solace in practices such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, and deep relaxation. As stated in uchealth, “Rest and recovery is an equally essential component of an exercise program because it gives the body time to repair, rebuild, and strengthen itself between workouts”. Finding time in your schedule to rest is super important and it cannot be overlooked.