The Importance of Time Management Strategies For College Athletes
You finally made it through high school, passed your college entrance exams, and chose the college you will attend. Another great thing is that you have been given the opportunity to avail of scholarship for athletes.
You are excited, yet at the same time a little apprehensive upon entering the college campus, you have no idea what to do next. You first visit your coach and he or she informs you that practice starts early in the morning.
After seeing your coach, you subsequently go on to class. As a summary, the first day was not too bad, no assignments, no formal lectures, simply plain introduction of the topic and course curriculum.
The following day, you wake up early in the morning, refreshed and prepared for training. The coach is giving you a hard time, and you tell yourself that it is only natural for coaches to give newbie’s a hard time.
After training, you return to your dorm to get ready for your classes. You are in shock when you enter your first class, the professor who appeared so nice turns out to be your worst nightmare. The professor gives each of the students a 1500 word essay with a short deadline, and you tell yourself that you will manage. On the next class, the situation gets worse.
After finishing the class, you then go over the field and make friends with the other athletes, everyone is talking about party on that night and they invite you to go. Naturally, since you want to make a good impression and receive their acceptance, you accept their invitation without a hint of hesitation.
In the party, a thought occurs to you that you still have that 1500 word essay to work on. However, you believe that you can still manage and the deadline is not that short.
After the party, you’re tired and return to your dorm room, and as if all the things you experienced on that day wasn’t enough, your roommate is also having a small party in your dorm room. The music is loud, you can’t study, you can’t sleep and the place is a complete mess.
You then wake up tired and stressed out, you go to the practice field late, and your performance is the worst performance in your whole life and adding to your poor performance is the thought of the 1500 word assignment still untouched. Your coach is angry with you because of your performance, he gives a hard time and demands that you stay and clean up the locker room.
Finally, you finish cleaning the locker room and you go to your first class of the day as fast as you can, but still, you get to to class late. Your professor, as a punishment, refuses to let you into the class due to your tardiness.
The worst thing is that the professor is giving tips on how to write about the assignment. You think about failing the class but that would mean your athlete scholarship would be revoked.
All these may seem far fetched but such situations truly happens to college athletes. They should employ a more advanced time management techniques. Being admitted to college is fairly easy. The difficult part is effectively using your time to accomplish all the activities you are involved with, and not affecting your studies.
Many students in college find it hard to successfully manage their time between studies and their extra-curricular and social activities. It is especially so for college students involved in sports. They have to undergo stressful trainings and cannot afford to fail in their academics as they have to retain their scholarship.
The sudden spike in responsibility is very challenging for college students, especially freshmen and college athletes. You just have to study more diligently and train harder because of the new level of competition.
You may be the track star back in high school, but in college, many competitors can easily match your record in high school. You’ll need to train more diligently to keep competing in your sport.
Here are a couple of time management tips for college athletes:
One of the priorities you have to include in your time management planning is study time. You have probably done it before back in high school, but it will be slightly different in college. It will be much harder because you have less time for studying.
As an athlete in college, you may have conflicts on your match schedules and your classes and even exams. Colleges offer tutors for college athletes to avoid missing their classes and school matches.
Go talk to your professor about your schedule and he or she may consider transferring you to another class with the same subject at another time.
After you usedevelop effective time management strategies, you will surely have sufficient time for your trainings, matches, study time, socializing, and your personal life.