Regarding my sport, volleyball, I participate in the fall season of athletics. Fall is awesome in so many ways. Crisp cool air mixed with the excitement of starting a new school year and starting up the beloved football season. To my team and I, all that is great but it is even better because we start a new season of our sport. However, all great things come to an end.
What day is it? This is a common question that is asked countlessly by numerous people throughout the course of a 24- hour day. To most people, a simple, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday would suffice. Although these responses are indeed quite true, there are other answers that you may possibly receive from the other student- athletes who are surrounding you.
After kicking back over Christmas break, spring is the time to get back into the grind of things and grow into the new team that is left after the seniors leave. To some, spring is awesome because spring break is right around the corner and soon after that is the end of the year leaving the sweet summertime bliss at one’s disposal. It’s easy to see the glory behind a timeline of seasons, but to an athlete there’s much more behind the glory.
“What day is it?”, one could say. Monday- but what they really mean is conditioning day. Get up and go to individual practice at 7, but life sucks because you have an 8 am so no shower for you. After being in class all day, come workout and do 20 sprints down the football field- it’ll make you feel good they say. Then go eat of course, but coach says to make sure we still have our hands on the ball everyday, so now go back to the gym and play for another 2 hours. When that’s done, do all of your classes’ homework assignments but make sure you go to bed at a decent hour because you have to get up again at 5:30 am to do it all over again on Tuesday. “What day is it?”, one could say. Tuesday- rinse and repeat.
To a fall athlete, that is the second semester life that is lived. Being completely honest, it almost becomes a blur because of how repetitive it can get. Of course, nobody likes running until they can’t move or weight lifting before the sun rises, but you do it for the sport. While fall sports are priming themselves for the following season, at this time the swinter (spring and winter) sports are already primped and prepped for their season ahead. The myriad of minutes put in by all the athletes finally come together for what they’ve been waiting for. “What day is it?”, one could say. Friday- but what they really mean is game day. Wake up and go to class but obviously it’s impossible to pay attention because of the excitement that is coming in less than 8 hours. Big games flood us with nerves and anticipation throughout the day, making Friday completely meaningless except to the fact that it’s game day.
Whether it really is Monday, Tuesday, Friday, or any other day of the week, there is a meaning and a series of events following each one. Sometimes they are awful and make you nervous for your life, but they are also thrilling and enticing. To anyone who doesn’t know the life of sports, I write this so you understand the life and the regimen athletes live by and what they really mean when answering the simple question of “what day is it?”.
Bump, Set, Blog 
I love this post and how you incorporated your life into it! I think as a non-student athlete it is eye-opening to see all you have to do and how repetitive it can get especially in the off-season. Many people will appreciate this post and how you explain the good and the bad of, “What day is it?” I think many people have no idea what the student-athlete life entail sometimes!
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I find this post very interesting because it speaks on behalf of how busy athletes are. Having friends that participate in college athletics is very hard to cope with. They are always busy. You never really get the chance to hang out with them during their time of the season. I played high school football and we had a recent college coach that prepared us like we were playing college ball. That kept us very busy throughout our day. I know that college athletes really do not have any social time during training, practices, or even games. Yes, game day is were everyone wants to be, but the process before game days can get a little hectic and time consuming.
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I find this post very interesting because it speaks on behalf of how busy athletes are. Having friends that participate in college athletics is very hard to cope with. They are always busy. You never really get the chance to hang out with them during their time of the season. I played high school football and we had a recent college coach that prepared us like we were playing college ball. That kept us very busy throughout our day. I know that college athletes really do not have any social time during training, practices, or even games. Yes, game day is where everyone wants to be, but the process before game days can get a little hectic and time consuming.
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I appreciate how you used such a common questions to illuminate the contrast between a student and student-athlete.
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