In other parts of the world, in sports like soccer, elite young athletes go straight to the pros, where they must be able to handle playing in games at the highest level of their sport. It can be argued that they have much more pressure to handle than athletes who are the same age playing college sports in the United States. But there is one major variable that cannot be ignored. Pro athletes do not have to juggle academics with their sport.
On the GameChange YouTube podcast show, The Conversation, a group of college athletes were asked what made them more nervous, a big game or finals. They all replied that taking a final was more stressful. When asked to recall the most stressful one they’ve ever taken, Long Beach State volleyball player DiAeris McRaven got a loud laugh from the group with his response, “Everyone I take.”
So, how do college athletes manage the stress of balancing their athletic and academic lives? USC women’s basketball player Talia von Oelhoffen and UCLA women’s rugby player Madison Purves both spoke about relying heavily on their calendars. Von Oelhoffen said, “I schedule out every hour of my day, and I know that if I have an assignment, I can tell you I’m probably going to do it Wednesday at four.” Purves added, “Sometimes I even have to schedule out, ‘Okay, this is my free time and this is when I don’t think about anything else.’”
Making sure to have free time is something the athletes also spoke about protecting. McRaven stated, “You’ve got to have time for yourself or else you’re going to start to perform worse.” Von Oelhoffen talked about the importance of making time one day of the week when she doesn’t study or train. “I make it a point not to have a single thing to do on my off day. If I have to do extra things, I’ll just load it all up into one day so that I can just have one single day where I’m like, I’m not doing anything.”
Simone Jackson, a former USC women’s soccer player who now plays professionally for the Orlando Pride, spoke about learning how to say no to every request that comes her way. She explained, “You’ve got to set your boundaries and you have to stick to them or else you’ll be the one to suffer. At the end of the day, it’s not them who has to stay up late to finish homework and then wake up the next day to do practice.”
