It’s no secret that college athletes have a busy schedule. At Blackburn, it’s no different and athletes are faced with an ever-growing list of “number one priorities” including their school work – classes, homework, and studying (approximately 12-15 credit hours), team commitments – practice, games, and studying game film and scouting reports (between 3-5 hours a day), and the work program (10 hours per week).
The transition from high school to college is hard for many as they find themselves completely responsible for themselves for the first time in their life. Freshmen are quickly becoming overwhelmed and drowning as they try and discover the best time management strategies, and more often than not, are afraid to ask for help out of fear and discomfort from being in a new environment.
When junior psychology major Daniele Burnell transferred to Blackburn from Danville Community College in Danville, Illinois, she not only had to readjust to being at a new school and surrounded by new people, she also picked up a second sport – basketball (in addition to softball) a work program school. “It’s definitely harder to maintain school. Practices are longer, I am playing two sports instead of one, and we travel more than we did at Danville. I usually stay up until 2 a.m. doing homework.” To make matters worse, as the stress of the semester and season builds, Burnell also finds herself down on work hours as an assistant for head softball coach Kerry Crum, with little time to make them up. She is not alone.
Time becomes limited and many have found that they are behind on their required work hours. Many have received emails requesting to set up a new contract to make up for lost time.
Despite the difficulties and constant load, there are athletes on campus who have been able to figure out a successful way to manage school, sports and work and actually find themselves up on hours. Sophomore elementary education major Gariel Pierce is a member of the women’s basketball and tennis teams and assistant manager at the Lumpkin Learning Commons. She has already met her required hours for the semester and offers advice to those struggling. “I have a planner and I plan out each day. If you want to get up on hours, talk to your supervisors and ask them if you can come it at times if you aren’t doing anything and you feel like you have extra energy from your practice or game or you have any free time so you can go in and clock into work. If you miss a shift, you need to know that the next week you need to pick up another one and be flexible.” Another option, depending on your department, is to ask your supervisor about banking up on hours prior to when your sports season begins, avoid procrastination and take advantage of any free time.