Photo courtesy of Andra Graver.
By: Avery Lisk, Buzz Staff Writer
Stress is a common factor that comes with going to college, it can be even more stressful with having work, clubs, and sports.
Student athletes have to build strict schedules to maintain good grades and balance time for their social life outside of the sport. While SAU student athletes say they have mixed feelings about stress throughout the day.
Sophomore tennis player Andra Graver says, “I’m stressed because I’m in 23 credit hours right now, and I also have stuff with the Air Force that takes up a lot of time, and then I have a lot of online classes, which is the hard part. Then when you add sports to that, having games and stuff takes away time from doing my classes, but I really enjoy my sport.”
Graver is majoring in human performance and fitness for pre occupational therapy. Other students also talk about the hardships of balancing everything.
Shotput track and field competitor, Rachel Romulus says, “Academics is more important than sports, but I also love my sport, and it’s just hard to juggle when you’re a full time student, full time athlete, and work full time at night.” Romulus is a sophomore majoring in cyber security who works from 11pm to 7am at John Deere.
Aj Trendle is a sophomore wrestling and lacrosse player who is an accounting major, he says, “I’m stressed due to the stress on my body, always having to do things, there’s no time to socialize. Not much time to get schoolwork done and keep up with classes.” Other students at St. Ambrose feel that they aren’t stressed, they have a strong routine throughout the day.
A writer for the Mending Playbook, Aaron Ly talks about how athletes are balancing between sports and academics. The article lists the tolls that mental health can play when it comes to being a student athlete. Aaron Ly states that, “The high-pressure situations of college sports are a significant step up from high school sports. The weight of needing to win and achieve in sports combined with the rigor of college-level courses can be crushing.”
Students at SAU need to take 12 credit hours and maintain above a 2.5 GPA to continue playing their sport. Students are also required to have study hall hours and the hours depend on the sport.
SAU football linebacker, Matthew Todd, describes how his day is killed with responsibilities. Todd is a freshman majoring in exercise science for physical therapy. “I usually wake up, get breakfast, go to whatever class it is. If I have breaks, I’ll do some homework, maybe, watch film, or study for a class. Then after classes are done, I usually come to football, then after football, I’m either watching film or doing homework and studying for classes.” Todd doesn’t feel stressed throughout the day, it is mostly his routine that he follows everyday.
SAU soccer center mid, Charli McGill also says her days are slammed, “So, I usually try to squeeze in all my studying in, like, between classes or like during classes, half of my class time is spent doing homework for that class or other classes. It’s very much class, soccer, bed.” Computer science senior McGill who has played all her years here at SAU.
According to Aaron Ly, a writer for The Mending Playbook, students who choose to play a sport experience increased anxiety, less time to study, decrease in performance, and can even fall into depression.
SAU offers assistance to student athletes through its counseling center. Through the counseling center page students can locate different resources for managing stress while being an athlete. Some tips that are given to student athletes are focusing on time management, having good study habits, using campus resources, and building a support network.
