All student-athletes strive to find a balance between committing time toward their team and committing time toward their education. It is a balancing act performed under a high amount of scrutiny from their coaches, professors and fans.

No one knows this better than junior golfer Gino Parrodi.

“I always look for balance,” Parrodi said. “I just try my best being a student and golfer at the same time. It isn’t easy, it’s something that you gotta do.”

This time of year makes Parrodi’s balancing act all the more difficult with the team in the midst of tournament season. Next week’s Western Illinois Invitational in Macomb is the first of four tournaments in the next five weeks. Because the tournaments take place on Monday and Tuesday, Parrodi said it is so much more difficult to have time to focus on studying.

“I think we are the sport that misses the most class, and it’s just ridiculous the amount of workload we have to come back to,” Parrodi said. “We miss every Monday and Tuesday class when we are in season, so you have to start the week on Wednesday, and it finishes on Friday, and then you leave for the next tournament on a Saturday or a Sunday. You don’t have a lot of time, but we all know what we signed up for.”

Family life is something all college students must find a balance in as well.

The amount of access parents and family have on one’s life differs from person to person. For Parrodi, it is not a question of if his family is too involved in his life, largely because they all live in another country.

Parrodi was born and raised in Mexico, where he goes to live with his family during long breaks. His family visits him whenever they can, but like Parrodi himself, have reservations about spending time in the cold.

The last time Parrodi said he saw his family was a week ago in Florida when they came to watch him play with the team. Even though he is in his third year at Eastern, Parrodi said the weather has not gotten easier to bear.

“Not really. I never get used to this weather,” Parrodi said. “In Mexico, it is 70 degrees and sunny every day of the year. Then you get here and you are pretty much hibernating for five months.”

Despite never taking to the climate and the difficulties of balancing all he has to do, Parrodi says he has not once regretted his decision to venture north to play college golf.

“I like the people here, they have been really friendly. Nice coach, nice friends, nice teachers and, despite the weather, everything’s been prime.”

Doug T. Graham can be reached at 581-2812 or dtgraham@eiu.edu

Gino Parrodi, a junior marketing major and member of the golf team, tied for 8th place in the Bulldog Florida Invitational at Windsor Parke Golf Course in Jacksonville, Fla., over spring break. (Danny Damiani/The Daily Eastern News)

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