By Williams Guzman. The Queensborough men’s basketball team opens up its season in Garden City, NY which they follow up with a home game, then travel to Viola NY and finish off in Suffolk County. All this in just the first week of QCC Men’s basketball!
With approximately 25 regular season games, CUNYAC Playoffs, Region 15 Playoffs, Nationals, these events are likely to cause student athletes to miss classes due to the travel time. With the men’s basketball team’s practice hours from 6:30pm-10:30pm every day, it can take a big toll on our bodies because most of us have classes in the morning and so we don’t receive the right amount of sleep. One of the many struggles college athletes face is time management. Sometimes It feels impossible to have enough time to make sure we get all our work done in time. Also, some of the players on the men’s team have jobs which take up majority of our afternoon and weekends.
Being a student athlete, you are held to a different standard which can be very overwhelming, since there is so much to manage as a student athlete. This pressure can even bring depression and a ton of mental stress having to turn in assignments in time, making sure you aren’t late to any classes, while balancing an athletic commitment while you are fulfilling your expectations on the game floor. College athletes face a lot of pressure due to the fact that they have to perform at their best, while having to have good grades, practices everyday til very late at night. Many college athletes are for sure dealing with anxiety and depression because there are so many adversities we are facing and your body is constantly going through pain because of ,injuries. You have to make sure you are always treating your body with ice baths, massages, going to our athletic trainer, all to make sure you can continue to play.
I asked freshman Guard Diego Cruz Lopez how he was adjusting to the college life while balancing an athletic commitment and he replied, “I am for sure having a difficult time adjusting to the college life, making sure I turn in my assignments, communicate with my professors, having to make time to study, while making sure I’m’ playing my best because when I don’t I tend to get depressed.”
This is something that most college athletes face when they aren’t matching the expectations they put on themselves. It can become very depressing and gives a lot of student athletes anxiety as well. Most of Queensborough athletes say when they aren’t fulfilling the expectations they start questioning themselves, why am I working so hard if it isn’t going my way? –which is something I can also relate to!
Student athletes have so much going on in their day that they need to properly program what will be done throughout the day. Time management is one of the biggest struggles we face because if you don’t know how to manage your time it can definitely hurt you in the long run. For example, managing what you eat and at what time you are eating throughout the day can also cause effects in your body. Making sure you always have a good breakfast to start off the day is a big one. Since practices start at 6:30pm and on game day we start warmups at 6pm, you have to make sure by 3pm-4pm you have a good meal to keep your body going and ready for the game. Most of us grab a meal from Moho Mexican Grill, Qdoba Mexican Grill, or Hot Peppers, which are all a great choice for us athletes.
Being a student athlete is a learning experience. You learn as you go and you will for sure mess up, however it’s about how you learn from your mistakes and don’t let them happen again. As a student athlete you eventually learn how to be responsible, become a leader, and get disciplined, especially with your time. You will face adversity such as injuries, getting home late from practice but still having to get schoolwork done, barely any sleep, waking up early for classes, and fulfilling the coaching staff expectations. Is it worth it? This is a question a player can only answer for themselves.
