Bharat SainiLast Updated on October 12, 2017 by Bharat Saini
You might be one of those student-athletes out there struggling to find a balance in your sports, academics, and social life. Regardless of whichever level you are: from clubs to college or high school programs, balance and commitment are the main components necessary for you to manage your schedule and eventually succeed in all that you do.
How do you, as a student-athlete, go about balancing school, sports, and your social life?
Below are 5 tips that will assist you to accomplish this:
Organize Yourself
Being organized is an important thing if you want to excel in what you do. Balancing the three (school work, sports, and social life) can be a real challenge. Student-athletes have to organize and prioritize correctly. The most effective technique for achieving a balance is to take a look at the calendar.
Knowing your academic calendar means knowing the timetable of exams ahead of time. As a student-athlete, you can approach your lecturer/teacher for more information on that matter. Then, you can plan ahead and come up with your own timetable for revision. Additionally, for those into sports, you can plan your calendar based on the sporting calendar of your institution. Doing all this organization will ensure that there’s time for your studies, sports and even spare time for your social life, and thus be able to succeed. Preparation is crucial.
Prioritize
When you have your schedule organized, it is essential to prioritize your time. For instance, if you participate in sports and have an exam coming up and a tournament later, then you would have no otherwise but to study first. You need to come up with a good study schedule. The mindset of an examination is just like a competition, which is about performing well. Anything below that isn’t tolerated.
When the exams are over, you can go ahead and prepare for the upcoming tournament. Before the tournament, build your training schedule and plan effectively to get ready for it. Furthermore, just before the competition (the night before) instead of going out with friends, get some good night’s rest so that you wake up feeling fresh and energized.
Even though you might be good at sports, it is important not to forget about your class work. Plan your assignments around your training schedule.
Always Balance
The social life of a student is also essential to their wellbeing and it assists them to relax and unwind. For instance, if a student-athlete had games and academics only, they might suffer from mental and physical exhaustion.
The student can meet with friends; go to the cinemas, picnics, among others. If you’re into online gaming, this is the time to make the sure bets that you analyzed from consulting this site. Unwinding in one or another, depending on your preferences, will reduce stress and bring about relaxation.
Time management is an important aspect for a student. It assists in instilling discipline and organizing a student’s life. The time one takes to complete a certain assignment allows the days to be organized in a particular way. Sports plays its time during the day, and class work also has its role. It is part of balancing the day’s schedule.
Select a Few Activities and Stick To Them
The quality of the activities that you engage in is more important than the quantity. Try not to join groups just for the sake of it, or maybe because they’ll look great on school applications. Also, don’t apply for leadership positions just because there are vacant positions to be filled. Go after extensive, significant commitments to groups that you care about and are related to your field of study.
In case you engage in many activities, and you get the feeling that the quality of work that you are putting into each activity is reducing, don’t be hesitant to reorganize yourself and stop doing one or more activities. Eventually, universities assess performance in groups regarding accomplishments and time within the context of that group. Therefore, if you are investing something like 20 minutes weekly and not contributing enough to the broader objectives of whichever association, organization or team you belong to, then it’s time you drop the group and focus on the ones that you dedicate more time and energy too!
Work With Others
Having study groups, club gatherings, or additional practices can be helpful if you are the type of student that has difficulties in balancing time. Being accountable to your fellow students will encourage you to dedicate more time to studying or doing assignments. Moreover, working with other students can be interesting and is conducive to learning than studying alone (as long as the sessions do not turn into something else).
The same case goes for co-curricular activities. In case you’re somebody who spends most weekends studying, try to organize a meeting for a club that you belong to or a pick-up game with your teammates. When you organize various meetings, you exhibit leadership skills. Furthermore, you will be able to form strong relationships with your fellow students and thus become an active member of whichever group you belong to, whether the football team, basketball team, debate club, etc.
Conclusion
When in school, balancing sports and social life with the demands of academics can be overwhelming. It at times feels like investing time and energy in socializing harms your academics (the same goes for the other way round).
However, the actual balance lies in being more efficient with the time you have and also better organization. You can accomplish this by being more efficient while doing class assignments, having reasonable objectives and making your social life more fulfilling. All in all, a student-athlete’s success depends on one’s capability to effectively manage one’s time with school work, sports, and social life. Furthermore, a student-athlete has to ensure that he/she does not overwork oneself beyond a certain limit to lessen the risk of mental and physical damage. Discipline, balance, and organization are essential for a student-athlete to succeed in school.
