Being a student athlete is its own reward

April 6th is National Student Athlete Day. According to Cornell Law School, a Student Athlete means an individual who engages in, or may be eligible in the future to engage in, any intercollegiate sport. 

According to the NCAA, there are nearly half a million student athletes competing at colleges across the U.S. Being a student athlete means early mornings and late nights, long trips on the bus and weekends spent competing. Being a student athlete also means that school work still has to come first. 

Even when you are traveling and competing homework and tests still have to be done on time. It also means that you have to commit to practicing, lifting and study sessions on top of competitions during the season. While the NCAA, operates on a 20 hour per week rule during the season it sometimes feels like a full time job when gone for competitions. 

But to me, being a student athlete, means that although there are early morning and late nights, I have developed lifelong friendships and connections that will follow me through life. All of the hours spent on the bus and hotel room shenanigans have lead to some of my favorite memories. 

I have also learned the importance of hard work, perseverance and time management. The last one probably being the hardest to learn. Managing practice, homework, work and free time was a struggle my freshman year. But learning these things has made me a more rounded person and will help me in the long run.

While there are lots of positives that come with being a student athlete, there are also negatives. 

You do get to enjoy the perks, such as free gear, nice practice facilities and access to things such as athletic trainers and team doctors. 

You also have the added stress of finding balance, identify outside of sports and the success and failures that ride on how practice and competitions go. 

Especially at a school the size of Chadron State College, being a student athlete looks a little bit different than it would at a Division One University. While we do not have the same budget or size of programs that you would find at those schools we do have amazing community support. 

Our community rallies around our athletes and celebrates our success with us. They also help support our athletes by donating to fundraising projects to improve facilities. 

While being a student athlete has its ups and downs I would not trade anything about it for the world.

 I have learned lessons that couldn’t have been taught in a classroom and gained friends that I probably would not have met because of it. Being a student athlete is difficult but one of the most rewarding things I do.