A Day in the Life of a Collegiate Athlete

I was reminiscing about my experiences as a collegiate athlete the other day. Perhaps it was sparked by the incredulous looks of fellow doc students who walked in my office and saw the poster of me hitting a backhand, or perhaps it was driving by the track and seeing the women’s tennis team gearing up for their mile run. Perhaps I’m getting old and am looking forward to saying to my kids one day “When I was your age…” 

Whatever it is that sparked my trip down memory lane, I thank it. Sometimes we get too worked up about what’s going on in the future that we don’t take the time to appreciate what has helped shaped us today from the past. Sometimes it’s bad to look back, but sometimes reflection really makes you appreciate the strides you’ve made in your life, whether it be school related, tennis related, or anything really. Sometimes it takes a coach or a parents or just a friend to say hey, you lost first round, I know it is unfortunate. But really, look at where you are at right now; you’re playing a tournament, a chance that so many people won’t ever have in their life. That is the same way I see my experience as a collegiate athlete. So many people would have dreamed to be in the spot I was, and sometimes I took that for granted. Sometimes I hated waking up in the morning to go work out at six am and then trudge to class and then trudge to study and then trudge to practice and then trudge, slowly, home to eat and sleep, exhausted. But then there are moments like clinching an ACC match, to feel the arms of your teammates surround you with not only a desire to share in the moment but also to be there 100% emotionally for you, whether it is the shining moment of a win or a heartbreaking moment of a loss, your head buried in a towel, wet with tears and frustration and sweat, saying over and over again I’m sorry, I let you guys down, only to hear the soothing sounds of it’s okay, only to feel the love and energy of teammates that become your fellow soldiers, your family. 

The emotional highs and lows of college tennis are hard to compare to anything other than life itself. It is the day by day that I get asked a lot about. What is it like to be a college athlete, an interviewer once asked me. I bit my tongue before I could respond—hard. It is hard, but it is both challenging and rewarding, the mixture of sweat, blood, and tears, and moments of highs so high that it takes days to float down from such successes, such moments where you are so proud of yourself and your team that you wish you could, as some songs capture in lyrics, “Have this moment for life.” 

Day by day your schedule is packed as a college athlete. Day by day it is hard to encapsulate the emotion of being part of a team and fighting for a mascot, for a school, for a spirit of some sort. Yes, there are days that you’ll wake up to run the mile run under a really fast time at seven in the morning in barely thirty degree weather. There are times where you’ll run stadiums, then work out, then go play tennis, and get an ice bath, then get athletic training or physical therapy for the aches and pains that sometimes torment your body. There are times where you’ll walk to class, sit down, and not be able to get back up when class is over. You’ll be tired. But regardless of how jam packed your day is, that is what makes days off or moments with the team just for lunch or for dinner, or at home as roommates just to sit and chat and relax so much more rewarding and fun and, well, amazing. It makes road trips filled with laughter and deep questions and dialogue and friendship that much more exciting, moments where you can look at a teammate and know exactly what is running through their minds at the moment on the court next to  you, and be able to talk, even with a body gesture, to that teammates, to say I’m here, I’m here for you, and I’m not going anywhere, you can do this. Tennis was always an individual sport for me, where I fought my own battles emotionally and physically, where my support came from the love and respect of my parents, but when I joined the team at FSU I learned to let people in, to let my teammates help me with those battles, to let my coaches help me, to put trust into people and allow myself the pleasure to look at my teammate when it’s five all in the third set and for that teammate to nod in a way that communicates I’m here. I’m here for you. I’ve always been, and I always will. You can do this. So a day in the life of a collegiate athlete can be hard sometimes. You’ll have multiple hours of practice, like the article that the interviewer published said. You’ll also have class responsibilities, and papers to write, and study hall to attend, and athlete training and physical therapy and cold tub and gym and fitness and court time and coach time and locker prep and match analysis. It’s hard to be an athlete, the article expressed. But I feel like that article didn’t encompass what college tennis is really about. It’s really about the people who go through everything with you, those friends that you make that you can call on a Wednesday evening after months of not talking and talk as if you were having lunch with them just the other day, the coaches that will forever wish the best for you, the memories that send chills down your arms and make you smile, perhaps even wipe away a tear of reminiscence that you are glad was sparked by something, something in your present that reminded you of your past.