My Experience as DIII Student-Athlete
One of the biggest reasons I chose Agnes Scott was because it gave me the opportunity to be an NCAA Division III basketball athlete. I played sports my whole life so to have the chance to play at the next level was a dream came true. This is my personal two year experience on the basketball team and the valuable lessons I learned along the way.
I quickly came to realize the demands and balance that came with this experience and how different it would be from high school. From early morning workouts and practices, to travel games that took up the majority of the weekend, and lots of late nights, I had to make sure that I was both maintaining my student integrity as well as my commitment to my team and coaches.
Every athlete has a different idea of what college sports is suppose to look like and what they’re expectations are. It’s hard to know if it will compare to high school and in what ways you’ll have to adapt. I was coming from a very successful high school program, which made it to the playoffs every year, winning our district four years in a row, and with many accolades as a program. I knew that Agnes Scott did not have a very strong program yet so I had a goal to help it progress in that direction. I wanted to be a part of something that was getting stronger, better, and making a name for itself. Little did I know what was ahead, both the good and the hard.
I could talk about the things that didn’t go well or the moments that didn’t feel right to me, but what I’ve taken away from that experience goes far beyond the wins and losses. I was a part of a team with wonderful teammates and coaches who supported me every step of the way. It was a diverse group of caring, funny, tough individuals whom without, I wouldn’t have made it through. We went through an intense two years together, endured a lot of change, but most of all we overcame whatever barriers were put in front of us. It took a lot of self-discipline and perseverance to manage the student-athlete life.
One of the most grueling parts about being a student athlete is the time commitment. Most people don’t realize that it’s more than 2 hours a day. There’s the pre-practice preparation, the 2 hour + practice, the post practice laundry and stretching, and the travel hours. There’s also the coach and team meetings, as well as any other minor planning detail that requires our attention. It is a lot. So how do you find balance? Especially with a rigorous program like Agnes Scott?
For me it was all about planning and taking advantage of empty time. I have work study so when I didn’t have a task to do, I would work on school assignments. In between classes I would often find a quiet space on campus to get some reading done. But I also sometimes used that 15-20 minutes for a nap. Although I’ve never pulled an all nighter, I often fell asleep late trying to finish schoolwork after a practice that ran late and making myself dinner. While it was exhausting, learning how to be efficient with my time and energy, was a life skill I will take with me for the rest of my life.
Being a student-athlete is not a perfect life. It is not easy by any means but there are rewards for the hard work that make it worth it to experience something so special. I grew into a better leader, when I served as the team captain my sophmore year. I learned how to become more direct with my communication, to speak up when things were not right, and to advocate for more support when I needed it. My college basketball experience was not what I expected, and it let me down in many ways, but it also allowed me to find mental grit and willpower to overcome what felt impossibly hard. I will be forever grateful to ASC for giving me the special opportunity to play at that college level and for the people who helped me along the way.
My journey in college sports may be done for now, but basketball will forever be my first true passion- without it I don’t know where I would be today.
