Spooky season has come to a close, but there is still a little fear lingering in the campus air: midterms (and we all gasp in unison.) Those exams that aren’t as important as the final, but take as much studying and tears, have unfortunately begun for most students at San Jose State University.
Grappling midterms and exams is hard enough for the average student, but adding other factors can make the workload seem more suffocating. When you’re an athlete, the kickoff to that stressful moment in class can feel far from a smooth landing.
Roaming around campus, I recognized the long practices of multiple sports, and thought about the stress of midterms and college schedules. I hoped to explore this topic centered around these rigorous activities.
In the past few weeks, I had the opportunity to receive insights from some of SJSU’s women athletes across several physical recreations. They bestowed me with their take on school and sports, specifically providing newcomer Spartan athletes with tips on how to manage a bustling athletic life, both effectively and efficiently.
Not an Athlete Student, a Student Athlete
As a general society, we often get wrapped up in the things we love doing, and lose sight of the tasks that will further our careers. Especially as an athlete, it’s incredibly important to balance passion and profession in a healthy manner.
Nayeli Deras is currently a first-year kinesiology major on the SJSU cheer team. Being in the athletic realm from high school, she was prepared for the commitment that the team would take.
During our conversation, Deras explained how important it is that education is always the primary priority. She will be having five midterms this semester, and additionally works off campus.
“People sometimes think they are athletes first, but they need to remember that they are student-athletes, and never athlete students,” she explained.
Moreover, Deras emphasized the importance of staying proactive with your schedule, and effectively communicating with both your professors and coaches when conflicts arise. The ability to acknowledge certain weaknesses and reach out when college grows stressful is imperative to a balanced life as a student-athlete.
Caution! Procrastination Station Approaching
Procrastination is unfortunately a common issue among college students. If an assignment is due at 11:59 p.m., our best work will sadly be done at 11:25 p.m. Although it’s common, this advice from athletes may be able to help you avoid procrastinating so you aren’t up scrambling to make a works cited page five minutes before midnight.
Joanna Fuentes is a first-year kinesiology major playing club volleyball as a center at SJSU. While juggling three midterms and a job on campus, Fuentes expressed how crucial it was to complete everything you need to at once before the urge to procrastinate seeps in. Though school events and a social life is important, Fuentes believes that these activities come later as there isn’t much time for it. To have time for leisure, finishing all your assignments can help provide that.
Experiment Various Study Methods
Let’s be real: progress doesn’t happen overnight. We’ve only ever seen that in the movies, but college is a time for small failures and trial and error, especially when it comes to study habits.
Student Athlete Vanessa Real is a fourth year communications major and journalism minor on the SJSU cheer team. Being on the team for several years, the commitment and schedule have been ingrained in her college lifestyle, but came as a shock to her when she was eighteen. Throughout her seasons, Real has acquired several tips and practices to boost your study sessions for midterms, quizzes, and overall assignments.
Real believes that studying in your bedroom can lead to distraction. Finding places to do work outside of a living space is beneficial to your productivity. Real personally finds tranquility and focus in studying at the Martin Luther King Library or a cafe near campus.
However, Real didn’t magically begin with these study methods. As a rookie athlete who was new to time management in sports, she seeked help from her own teammates. She learned to be guided by people that practice study habits on a daily basis and prioritize their academics, stating, “I always surrounded myself with extremely hard workers, not just as teammates, but equally as students.”
The Sport May End, But the Career Should Persist
College truly is the stepping stone to a career and life you want to see yourself in. Putting yourself in a place at the end of your four years that can provide you with an exciting and prepared future in regards to jobs is essential. Student-athletes, though strict and committed, know this is the harsh reality.
Devyn Valuch is a second-year justice studies major on the SJSU gymnastics team. Valuch tumbled into the gymnastics environment early and knew the rigorous schedule of a university sport. With her mother being a college gymnast, she received a great amount of advice in terms of balancing her school-sport life. Valuch knows the presence of a career-heavy mindset. Many college athletes are aware that they must focus on getting a well-equipped job post-grad as their sport can’t go professional, and gymnastics is one of them. With this in mind, she knew that she needed to tackle her three midterms head-on.
Valuch explained to me that it is easy to be worried about your career as an athlete, because you don’t have much to fall back on once you graduate. To help her stay afloat, she spent a large portion of her time examining her schedule to look for times to accommodate practice and studying. During midterm season, Valuch is on a higher-intensity schedule, as she is required to fit her ramped-up to-do list into morning classes and practices that last until the evening.
Valuch wanted to have a focus in criminology, and knew she must take the same steps she did toward the beam as she does toward her future. The real world can be daunting, but recognizing the importance of a career after college may make life during those four years more enjoyable.
These tips and advice from your fellow Spartans will take you far! Don’t forget to breathe in during those stressful periods. Go serve (literally) those midterms Spartans!
What are your tips on managing college or student-athlete stress? Leave a comment @HerCampusSJSU!