The Mind of a Student Athlete

Photo by Staton-Todaro.

I’m motivated by proving people wrong. I know it's bad. My entire life I have been told, “you can’t do this” or “you can’t do that”, and I allowed myself to believe those comments. However, I remember the first time I ever proved someone wrong athletically. I remember the look of shock on their face and the feeling of satisfaction I had. It was empowering. For me, it was all about finding the right sport. As most athletes can relate, you know you’ve hit the jackpot when you pick up the equipment for a sport and it feels natural. That’s how I felt when I picked up an oar. 

I have to thank Newman for this. If it weren’t for Nigel or the early morning crew practices, I wouldn’t be so engulfed in this sport. My transition into balancing school and sports was hard. It was even harder during the spring of 2019, when I started rowing competitively. Practices 6 days a week and is required to get 8-10 hours of sleep, all while still maintaining good grades and a level of mental stability. There are two main lessons I have learned from being a student-athlete. The first being my priorities. When your training schedule becomes more strenuous you must ask yourself: what do you prioritize more? Do you value school over your athletics? How does your family fit into that picture? All vital questions that I had to solidify my answer to. After completing two competitive seasons, with varying degrees of commitment, I believe I have my priorities straight. The list goes: myself, my family, school, and then rowing. 

My top  priority, myself. My mental health always comes first . It is important to me that I am mentally fit for the challenges which lie ahead of me. Without a solid base to build off of, I know I won’t be successful. I recognize that if I get less than 7 hours of sleep, I won’t perform my best at practice.  Being the grandma I am, I go to bed at 9:00 pm every night to make sure I get at least 8 hours of sleep. Sometimes my academics takes a hit and I must ask myself if this worksheet or my sleep is more important. My decision varies from day to day. However, the most important thing I can take away from this question is that whatever answer I give is okay, as long as it can be justified. It’s okay to put your assignment down to get sleep and coming to terms with that wasn’t easy. Grades are everything to me, and while it is bad, I let them define my impression of myself, the same as I do with my performance in practice. 

Secondly, my family. They are everything to me. When I was at my lowest, they were always there. If it weren’t for their dedication to rowing, I wouldn’t be in the position I am in today. I am forever grateful for the sacrifices they have made to ensure that I am able to prosper at what I am passionate about. Third is school. I could sustain a career-ending injury and I would still have my academics to fall back on. My dad often reminds me not to look at the rowing program, but rather the school itself. I will skip practice if I know my homework load is on the heavier side. The largest thing I have learned from this is knowing when to get ahead. If I have 15 minutes free, how far ahead can I get on English homework? Or that 20-minute commute is a perfect time to study vocab. 

Finally, rowing. For something I dedicate so much time for, it is my lowest priority on this list. This leads me to my second largest lesson I have learned, the importance of committing yourself and trusting something bigger than yourself. It is selfless to give yourself up for your teammates and to help them with every step they take. It is in any sport, but especially rowing, where your teammates are what carry you. Rowing is much more literal, in that without one of them, the boat can’t move. We can’t go fast if one girl is slacking off, or if one girl is just a few seconds off the girl in front of her, the whole rhythm of the boat is now messed up. It is this commitment and promise that I hold with my teammates that drives me to be better. I know that if I don’t show up and give it my all, then I will let them down. Along with this, is the reality that I must trust that the girl in front of me or behind me will work just as hard as I am. Every season, my coach shows us a video about the commitments we make to each other. When you are rowing, you are representing your club, your goals, and your passion. You become a little less yourself and a little more a part of the collective goal that your team has been working towards. As an athlete, you know you have given it your all if the next day your quads are sore, or your arms hurt to raise over your head, or your feet hurt from endless running. Whatever soreness you have, reflects the selfless act that you have just committed.

At the end of a long week, I often look back in amazement. To me the time I spend practicing, which is roughly 15.5 hours a week, which does not include “On Your Own” workouts or other recovery steps taken for you to be even more effective on the water, seems to trump all. However, when practice is over and I get home, I must then commit myself to my academics. The days are long, but the week seems to fly by, without me being able to stop and think about all the work I put in. The tests or quizzes I somehow managed to feel prepared for and executed well, the long homework assignments or sentence translations that took me on average an hour to complete, or the hard erg test I had pr’d on. It’s on Saturdays when I get home from long practice, that I realize all the things I have completed. While I am tired and sore, I feel content. I let all the hard work sink in and I feel an immense sense of pride. I did that, I say to myself. Then in a blink of an eye I must do it all again. That’s why I do it. For the feeling of satisfaction when you get to take a breath, because you have committed yourself to hours of hard work, pays off.