We are all sad to see the summer go, our tans fade, and the beach disappear from eyesight but this new chapter of the year is going to be even more exciting.
Back to school is in full swing, and while this is a joyful time, regardless of whether this is your first or fifth year as an NCAA athlete, this transition back to campus is a lot to take in.
Although gymnastics may be on the forefront of everyone’s minds as they get to campus with the first day of practice or get their long-awaited gear, you also have the responsibilities of the “student” part of being a student-athlete. Oftentimes, this aspect, unfortunately, gets overshadowed, and people on the outside forget you still have academic responsibilities on top of practicing 20 hours a week and eventually competing each weekend.
As gymnasts, one of the main things you learn from a very young age is to be disciplined and how to manage your time. Before you were an NCAA gymnast, you were also a high-schooler, a middle-schooler and a really young high-level athlete that had an enormous amount of pressure placed on them. From getting out of school, eating dinner in the car, practicing each night, getting home and doing homework, and then doing it all over again was the life most gymnasts lived for a majority of our childhoods. Even if this might have been overwhelming at times, this routine taught each of us the importance of time management, truly setting you up for success as you transition into college athletics.
Even if the circumstances now might look different, the routine and the expectations are the same. Managing your time as an athlete is one of the biggest keys to success and in finding balance for the next four or more years. Throughout your time in a program, there are always people in your corner, specifically the huge role academic advisers play in all of the work they do and the time they give to student-athletes. As much help as these advisers are willing to give you, it truly comes down to how much you want to succeed. As I have mentioned previously, there are GPA requirements each team must meet; there is a standard NCAA requirement, but there may also be a specific team requirement. Having the highest team GPA throughout an athletics program is something a lot of teams pride themselves on, and for a lot of schools, this team is often gymnastics! So as much work as gymnasts are putting in in the gym, just as much is going into the student piece.
While there are people in the academic and athletic spaces willing to help, this want to succeed ultimately has to come from you. As an athlete, there are often required study hall hours, specifically for freshmen, that you have to complete in order to be eligible to practice with the team and compete later in the year. As much as this might feel like just another addition to a busy schedule, it really reinforces the idea of setting aside this time to make sure the work gets done. After these hours are no longer a requirement, it is up to you to do what is necessary to continue to manage this time and get the help that you need. Whether this means getting a tutor or living in the library until all the work gets done, prioritizing this aspect of your new identity as a collegiate student-athlete is crucial.
When you sign up for classes at the beginning of the year, you work to find classes that are outside of your practice slot. In the beginning years of college, there are several options for times of a certain class as many are general requirements; so working in these classes isn’t as much of a challenge. As you progress more into your junior, senior, or graduate years, these classes become more specific and might only offer one section, meaning, whatever time it is, if it interferes with practice or not, you have to take it. For me personally in my last year, I was working toward my Master in Education which meant doing my student-teaching during the competition season. I would walk to school each morning, teach from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., then walk to the gym and train until 5 p.m., then go home and do it over again for the next six months. This schedule was brutal, but looking back now a year out of the program, I truly feel like this set me up to have the mindset of “If I can manage that, I can manage anything.”
The “student first in student-athlete” phrase is emphasized quite a lot, but sometimes, it doesn’t always feel like this as you go through your four years. For a long time, you’ve been thinking about being a part of a team you have been waiting to be a part of, but the really hard reality is, it does come to an end after a time that seems way too short, and you have to look towards what’s next. At the same time you are having your first last meet or celebrating senior night, you are also worrying about an interview for graduate school next week or applying for a job once the year is over. For me personally, it was hard to balance gymnastics with all that was going on outside of the gym. As much as I wanted to solely enjoy my last year with my team, my reality as well as many others, was that your brain is consumed by what’s next, and not by what’s going on now. As much as it is important to have a plan for when this chapter comes to a close, it’s just as important to enjoy these last moments.
As athletes, especially gymnasts who are quite literally judged on a scale of how perfect you are, having the confidence to meet certain standards that are set both in the classroom and in the gym takes a toll. Especially going into the beginning of the year, for first years, fifth years, and anyone in between, allowing yourself the time to figure out a routine, giving yourself grace when adjustments need to be made, or accepting help when it is offered is all a part of finding this balance.
This is the reality for many athletes who perform week in and out, and you truly never know what is going on behind the scenes. The student-athlete schedule is certainly jam-packed, but is rewarding in being able to say you made it through successfully. With all that was expected both in the classroom and the gym, at the end of each year, you should have some newfound confidence moving forward that you are so much more capable than you thought you were.
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Article by Julianna Roland
