This is my third year on the Division I Fencing team here at Penn State. This year with daily practices at 7 a.m., I’ve developed a routine for myself to keep my life organized. Here’s a glimpse of what the life of a college athlete looks like.
6 A.M.: WAKE-UP
Rise and shine! Every day of the week I wake up before the sun comes up at 6 a.m. At first, it was really hard to get used to the early mornings, but it has now become a routine.
I don’t eat breakfast before practice because it’s pretty hard for me to stomach anything that early, but if I do eat something, it’s an apple cinnamon Nutri-Grain bar.
7-9 a.m.: practice
For the next two hours, we practice. Our practice consists of a warmup jog with the whole team for 15 minutes, some stretching and either do footwork or fencing.
It can be hard doing two hours of physical activity this early in the morning, but being surrounded by my teammates definitely helps.
Sometimes after practice, I’ll stay after and do some conditioning exercises to get stronger.
9:00-10:30 a.m.: EXERCISES & lift
After practice, I do some target practice and personal fencing exercises, then I head to the gym to lift. I alternate the exercises based on what part of the body I’m working on each day.
10:00-11:30 a.m.: breakfast & chill
After practice, I head back to my apartment and make breakfast. I usually make the same breakfast every morning: two eggs, turkey bacon and two pieces of bread with butter.
While eating my breakfast I spend 20-30 minutes watching TV or finishing up assignments from the night before. After that, I get dressed, pack my bag, and leave for my classes.
12:00-2:30 p.m.: internship
This school year I have an internship with the Special Collections Library at Paterno Library where I work in social media content creation and management. I go on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for 10 hours a week.
Over the past two months, I’ve been able to see a bunch of rare books and collectibles, like a first edition piece by Shakespeare. It’s definitely a unique internship and I’m having a lot of fun with it.
3:05-4:20 P.M.: CLASS
Today, I only have one class: COMM 409, which is about news ethics. It’s a required class as a journalism major, but it’s actually very interesting and makes you think about journalism in a new light.
4:30-7:30 p.m.: homework/study
Usually after my class, I’ll dedicate a couple of hours towards being productive. Most days that means doing my homework or studying, but other days it could mean finding and applying for internships or editing photos for my photography class.
Some of my favorite spots to do homework on campus would be the Biobehavioral Health building, the student athlete lounge in the White Building, the Willard Building and the third floor of the HUB.
7:45-9:30 p.m.: dinner/friends
During this time, I’ll make myself dinner. My dinners vary day by day. For the first couple of weeks, I would eat turkey sandwiches and a side, but now I’ve been trying to cook more, so I eat chicken and pasta a lot.
Recently, I’ve been making dinner with my some of my teammates and we will hang out for a couple of hours while cooking and eating. I enjoy this time a lot because I’m usually very busy during the day, so it’s nice to catch up with friends.
9:45 p.m.: journal
I’ve been journaling consistently for a year now, which is crazy because I have tried to get into journaling many times in my life and it never stuck. But now it’s become a part of my daily routine.
I find journaling to be incredibly relaxing and also helpful for my mental health. It’s nice to have some time for myself to debrief my day or write about how I’ve been feeling. Especially because of how hectic my weeks are, having downtime to spend time with my thoughts is a good thing.
10 p.m.: bedtime
Early, right? I don’t go to sleep this early every day, but I try to go to sleep between 10 and 11 p.m. so I get around seven or eight hours of sleep a night. This is only possible because I’ve learned to manage my time pretty well over the past couple years.
My routine varies on the day, and some days are definitely busier than others. But hopefully this gives you some insight on how a student athlete balances school and their sport.