A Day in the Life of a D1 Athlete

“Athlete schedule. Wake up (tired), work out, go to class for hours (tired) work out again (even more tired), HW (exhausted), sleep *Repeat*”

“I would love to see a regular student be on an athletes schedule for one day. People don’t understand how hard it is.”

“The absolute worst part of the day is not getting my ass kicked at work outs, it’s getting myself out of bed in the morning.”

A day in the life of a Division 1 athlete is far beyond what the average person thinks. Some think the athletes have it great since we get all this free gear, free tuition, housing paid for and stuff. Some think we’re lazy with our academics and don’t care about our education since we’re always sleeping in class. These people are down right stupid and wrong. Sometimes I hear students complaining about how hard it is to wake up for their 10am class when athletes have secretly been up since 5. Waking up for a 10am would actually be a blessing for athletes. Regular students take so much for granted, and it’s their judgmental opinions that get me angry.

In my opinion, you cannot judge college athletes if you have never been through the full experience. It’s wrong to make assumptions towards our attitude or style or work ethic. The reality of it is, being a Division 1 college athlete is a full-time job, sometimes even year round. The athlete’s mindset on that job can be different. Some love it and some hate it. Some love it for the game, for the experience, for the money or fame, etc. Some hate it for the workouts, the coaches, etc. But all agree that it is a full time job. A normal day for a D1 athletes goes something like this:

6:00–7:00 a.m.: Wake up

7:00–7:45 a.m.: Eat breakfast

8:00–11:30 a.m.: Class

12:00–12:30 p.m.: Eat lunch

12:30–1:30 p.m.: Lift

1:30–2:30 p.m.: Fuel and recover

2:30–3:30 p.m.: Meetings

3:30–5:30 p.m.: Practice

6:00–6:30 p.m.: Fuel and recover

6:30–7:00 p.m.: Eat

7:30–9:00 p.m.: Study

This schedule is a work schedule. Being a student athlete is physically and mentally exhausting. Most students wake up at 6am probably 15 or 20 times a year. For athletes, wake up at 6am is a way of life. Regular students are proud of themselves when they finally find time to squeeze a thirty minute jog into their “busy schedule”…haha. The work done by student athletes is hard work and it is important we all recognize and understand that.

Source used: http://www.smudailycampus.com/sports/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-division-i-athlete