Love for the game overrules all
Being a college athlete is a full time job and takes a lot of dedication, time, and effort outside of being a full time student. To add more on their plate, some athletes double up on sports, and have to continue their education.
Phil Rivera, senior of Apple Valley, Calif., plays safety for the CSC football team and is a sprinter for the CSC track team. Rivera received the winning in the 2010 RMAC Outdoor Championship in the 400-meter run and the 200-meter run Indoors. He also was named to the RMAC All-Conference Third Team for football in 2011 and worked himself a spot in the top five in both the 200 and 400 meters at the 2011 RMAC Indoor Track and Field Championships.
“To transition from football to track, I have to change my whole training regiment and diet. They are two completely different sports and require different skills; training for football is completely different than track,” Rivera said. “But the biggest challenge for me was my diet. I love to eat and for football I wanted to be big, this allowed me to eat bigger portions, but for track you don’t want to be too bulky so I have to watch what I eat and try to eat smaller portions.”
Changes that the athletes go through to make their seasons successful can be harder than the actual transition between seasons.
Sadie Waugh, senior of Paxton, plays forward for the CSC basketball team and throws for the CSC track team. Waugh was named into the 2010-2011 RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll. During the 2011-2012 basketball season, Waugh started 23 out of 25 games, qualifying her for CSC’s most consistent post player.
“The mental transition from basketball to track is probably the hardest transition. Going from a team sport to essentially an individual sport is such a different aspect,” Waugh said, “but in basketball I like the pace and physicality of the game and the fact that a team is only as strong as its weakest player, but on the other hand in track I like that success or failure is on me.”
“I love everything about both sports. The team aspect of football is my favorite part. There is just something about the comradery. Nothing beats going to battle on Saturday with your brothers and as for track; it’s all about pushing yourself to your limits,” Rivera said.
Both Phil and Sadie talked about the actual transition between sports and the struggles it caused them at the beginning.
“After doing this for so many years it seems to come natural now, but the first two years were pretty tough on me. I would try to make the transition happen so fast that it would ware me down fast. Nowadays, I know how to go about it so it is less stressful,” Rivera said.
Waugh recognizes that any transition can be difficult, but it does depend on what two sports an athlete is participating in.
“It has been different the past three years because I did basketball post season work as well as track season workouts. The transition is relatively easy for me because I go from fast pace to slowing down a bit, but every dual sport athlete is a little different. This year was even easier, as a senior I don’t have the basketball work too, so being able to focus just on track has been beneficial,” Waugh said.
An athlete has many reason of why they want to participate in two sports; one being that they just can’t chose one over the other.
“If I had a favorite I would be doing just one sport instead of two. When coming to college, I had to make a decision on which sport I wanted to do I loved them both the same,” Rivera said.
Both Rivera and Waugh admitted they wouldn’t be participating in two sports if they didn’t love and enjoy the sports as much as they do.
“I wouldn’t be doing them both for this long if I didn’t love them both, however basketball has been my sport since I was three and feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to play at this level and for as long as I did,” Waugh said.
Most of the athletes on this campus make doubling up in sports look easy, amid the juggling act with school. Rivera and Waugh have come a long way from their first year playing two sports, and even with the time and effort they take, their love for the sports have not changed.