Being a student athlete may be the death of me. With three more weeks to go in the basketball season, I feel exhausted physically and mentally.

I’m hanging on for dear life trying to keep up with my classes and practice so that I am on top of my game.

When I wake up, it’s a struggle to get out of bed; I feel dehydrated. I usually hit the snooze button on my alarm clock as it goes off at 8am.

Fifteen minutes later I hear my alarm going off as a DJ Snake song blares at me.

But I’m just so tired I tell myself, I will get up in fifteen more minutes.

Before I know it its 9:30am and I am running late to the weight room. I have to be there at 9:45am and I l live twenty minutes away from school.

Looking back at my early days of college I don’t know how I was able to balance my education, basketball, and work.

It feels so over whelming being a student athlete.

The aches and pains I feel in body as I go to class feel unbearable. Every athlete knows that the cold weather is not your friend when you are in pain.

I repeat the same schedule every week trying to push through the motions.

My sophomore year of college I worked a grave yard shift from 10pm to 6am.

The money was great but the side effects took a toll on my body for the worse.

I would get off of work at 6am. I would sleep until 9am because I had to be in class by 9:45am.

After class I had an hour break then practice then after practice I went to sleep for four hours then I was back at work slaving through the long hours of the night to get off of work and repeat the same schedule.

I was so exhausted from working 40 hours a week. I began to fail my classes and if I passed I barely passed with a C.

Tearing my ACL my sophomore year gave me a break from being a student athlete but the moment being an athlete was stripped away from me I was sad. I didn’t know what to with myself. There was a void in my life that needed to be filled.

I thought everyday about being an athlete again.

But I also thought about what it felt like to be a regular college student.

Although I must say sometimes I take being a student athlete for granted. I could never imagine my life without being a student athlete.

Being a student athlete for majority of my life has been bitter sweet.

The bitter part is that there is not enough time in the day for school, practice and work. Being tired all the time and trying to get through the day hour after hour, from class to class makes it difficult for me to have energy.

Time management is something I struggle with.

In my mind I tell myself I am going home right after practice to study. But I just end up taking a shower and falling asleep. Telling myself I will study in the morning but that does not happen.

The physical part is by far the worse than the mental.

Imagine when you wake up in the morning and your knees are stiff and they ache.

You feel a sharp pain in your right foot because you have plantar fasciitis.

I feel like an old lady waking up every morning while I am in the basketball season.

Then you have that pain in your wrist or your arm or somewhere on your body and you do not know where it came from.

So to suppress the pain I take Ibuprofen on occasion or ill rub icy hot on my knees or feet. But if I’m in a lot of pain ill just rub Icy Hot all over my body.

There’s nothing like the sweet perks of being a student athlete. I never had to stress about registering for classes because I have priority registration. I have had a substantial amount of support from coaches and advisors.

My mother is not figuratively my biggest fan she is literally my biggest fan and has cheered me on through my best and worst times as a student athlete. I am naturally completive and passionate about basketball. Having a sense pride for winning has helped developed me into the person I am today. I love working hard for something and getting great result in the end.

As my senior year of basketball is coming to an end, I will truly miss being a student athlete.

Being a student athlete is a struggle and is not easy.

But I can say that I enjoyed being student athlete and I would deal with the mental and physical tiredness and pain because it’s simply what I love to do.