Transitioning from high school to college can be difficult and overwhelming for students. It is a tougher transition for those student-athletes who have to adjust to a new level of playing as well as a new team.
Freshmen student-athletes have been making progress with getting used to the college life in classrooms as well as on the field this year.
Freshman lacrosse player and exercise science major Dan Bennett has been adjusting great at college. He said it has been challenging for him to manage his time, getting his homework done as well as going to practice and attending team lifts.
“The one thing I did not expect coming into college and being a student-athlete is the camaraderie and friendships I would instantly make with my teammates,” Bennett said.
He loves the everyday life of being a student-athlete is tough but it is very rewarding and worth it in the end.
A freshman women’s lacrosse player and early childhood education major, Moira Ward, has been really enjoying college thus far. She loves being a part of the team. It really has helped her manage her time between studying and playing lacrosse as well.
She stated that college lacrosse is a lot more serious and more demanding of her time. She has realized that being a student-athlete is a lot more intense in college.
“I like it a lot more because everyone is playing because they want to play. In high school, it was more just for fun for most kids but in college, everyone wants to do well and compete,” Ward said.
Ward knows that schools come first and really focuses on her studies and then focuses on lacrosse and getting ready for the upcoming season in the spring.
Ward really likes how in the classrooms and on the field, whether it a professor or a coach, the work she is given really means something and is very meaningful and isn’t just “busy work.”
Another freshman men’s lacrosse player, Rob Pensabene, an exercise science major, said how he really doesn’t have much free time playing a sport as well as being a full-time student. He feels as though being an athlete is just as much as a full-time job is being a student.
Pensabene has really been trying to better his work ethic in college.”If you are not willing to go all out day in and day out you will not succeed,” Pensabene said.
He pointed out how he is never bored and is always doing something, whether it is doing homework and being in class or being out on the field for practice. He said how is very beneficial for him to always be busy though.
What these athletes all have in common is how much they love being a student-athlete. These athletes are all striving to put their best foot out in the classrooms as well as on the field.
All are adjusting to the college workload as a student and as well as an athlete. They have all faced some challenges but have worked through them and gotten to where they need and want to be.
