Editorial Cartoon
Most people take for granted the difficulty of life for a college athlete. A normal day in the life of an athlete here at Eastern would probably be considered extremely stressful for a regular student.
During the first week in August, all fall athletes move in early. There are no dining centers open, no neighbors to talk to and no places to go. It’s just you, your teammates, and three-a-day training sessions.
Three-a-days consist of timed fitness tests, technique training and practice sessions. Pre-season is a big shock for many incoming freshman, because the intensity of the workouts are unlike anything they’ve ever experienced before.
An in-season collegiate athlete could be compared to a well-trained dog on a learned schedule.
I say this because we start off with little to no discipline and, over time, come to understand our place and expectations. Eastern athletes train for six of the seven days in a week, with one day off to rest.
Once the season starts, everyone looks forward to the free day, planning what to do with their time and acting like a normal student for once.
Every other day though, athletes wake up, go to class, go to practice and collapse into bed at night. After a while, all the days seem to blur together into one endless routine. Just when you think that the practices will never end, the season begins and you understand the importance of all your hard work.
Game days are often times the incentive for all the effort you put forth, and become what drives you through the week.
Once the games begin however, so does the traveling. This past fall soccer season, the team traveled ten times, not including conference play.
While the professors are made aware of, and excuse the absences, it is still pretty difficult to stay on top of schoolwork having missed out on the lectures.
Getting your assignment in advance, and trying to teach yourself the material on a moving bus is no easy feat.
Trying to steady your laptop and assignments, driving over a huge pothole and then dropping it all on the floor is not uncommon. Finding a balance between schoolwork and your sport might be the most challenging aspect of it all. While it’s all chaotic and stressful as a first semester freshman, you eventually grow accustomed to it and adjust your life accordingly.
The only thing more complicated than adapting to this new lifestyle is breaking it again in between seasons. When the season comes to its conclusion, athletes are faced with something they don’t normally get to experience: free time.
The day after our season ended this year, I would estimate that three-fourths of our team found themselves in the Student Recreation Center the next day, for lack of better things to do.
Eventually, we all got used to being regular college students, and here we are, at the end of our break.
We’re lifting, conditioning and preparing not only physically, but also mentally. With the loss of our senior class, the remaining members of the team are going to have to adjust to a new style of play without them.
This time of the year is used to prepare for our spring season, and we can’t wait to do it all over again.
Kaitlin Sullivan is a freshman midfielder for Eastern’s women’s soccer team and a journalism major. She can be reached through the sports department at 581-7944 or densportsdesk@gmail.com.
