College Athletics

Hey everyone, it’s Jalen! Today I want to talk about athletics in college.

As I was thinking about what I could write this week, my mind drifted back to how much I talk about my Mock Trial experience. And while I will fight tooth and nail for academic sports to be recognized simply as “sports,” I think I should also use this platform to talk about the other sports that we have at Carleton.

Well, to be more specific, athletes’ experience and advice for those high school athletes who intend to continue playing sports in college.

As you can tell from my posts, I have lots of fun doing what I’m doing. I love performing and I am very interested in pursuing law, so I combined the two and found an interest in Mock Trial. It’s been very interesting and difficult and new and fun learning the ins and outs of this sport, but I honestly wouldn’t trade it for anything. I enjoy what I do way too much to do that.

But expanding this conversation a bit, I’ve also reached out to members of other teams. Joshua Angevine, a defensive player on the Carleton football team spoke about his past three years on the team:

Not to put my time as an athlete as an us versus them problem where I struggle more, but it is certainly an aspect of my life that makes school harder for me than most students. I dedicate a lot of time to my sport in and out of season which cuts into my homework and studying time. It leaves me physically and mentally drained which affects how well I can manage my course work. Despite all of this, I do enjoy what I do.

Joshua brings up a really good point about sports—they definitely take time. For me, I had meetings three times a week, and for five of the ten weekends of winter term, I was at a competition. This definitely something to consider when looking at whether varsity athletics are something you want to balance on your plate.

But there are things you can do to make this balance easier to manage. Freshman Carleton volleyball player Jancyn Appel shares a few pointers for how to make it through:

In my time as a student-athlete, there are a few things that you learn:

First, is your place in the community. In a matter of seconds when stepping on campus, being an athlete gives you an identity, a set group of friends, and a strict schedule. However, you can choose to break the mold and find time to do new things and meet other people if you choose to do so.

Second, is time management. This one is obvious, but you need to be on top of your schedule/work cause you’re an adult now and it’s nobody else’s’ responsibility but your own.
Third, is self-advocacy. Sometimes, you just can’t do it all, so you need to be honest with yourself and others. If you need an extension, communicate with your professors early on, and usually, they’ll jump at the opportunity to help you.

Jancyn talks about a few things, like community, identity, time management, self-advocacy, self-care, mental health. All of these are so important when thinking about sports, but also just being a student in general.

Overall, being in any sort of extracurricular activity is encouraged, as you get a chance to have new experiences, meet new people, go different places. All of that is loads of fun, but it comes at a price. You have to be able to manage your time, speak up for yourself, take care of your mental and physical health.

Thank you so much for reading this, and I’ll see you all in the next post!

Jalen

Jalen is a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed freshman with the intention of becoming a psychology major. Jalen has noticed the orange in his hair is nearly gone. That means that it is almost time to redye his hair, and he has no clue what he’ll choose. He guesses that only time will tell, but he’s excited for it! Meet the other bloggers!