Every college athlete knows the old routine of sleepless nights of schoolwork, followed by yet another grueling morning practice (rinse and repeat). Oftentimes when speaking to incoming college athletes, the most frequent question I receive is: “How do you manage your studies and your athletics?” While this may seem like an impossible task at the collegiate level, these five tips will help you stay competitive on the field and in the classroom

1. Take Care of Your Body

As obvious as it may seem, taking care of your body will not only help your performance as an athlete, but also will save you time in injury prevention down the line. Treatment will help with improved performance in sport, enhanced joint health, prevention of lower back injuries, relief of muscle cramps, and mental and physical relaxation, on top of many other benefits. While this may seem like a time consuming step, spending a total of 30 minutes in the training room a day can save you hours of time in injury recovery down the line. As world-class endurance athlete Amelia Boone points out, on top of the time wasted for physical recovery, there is a huge mental recovery period that comes into play when counting back from an injury. Learning to re-trust your body is a serious and time consuming obstacle to overcome. 

Related: 10 Questions About Injury Prevention & More With Athletic Trainer KatieRose Healey

Not only will an injury hold you back in the development of your sport, but also possible surgeries will possibly lead to missing classes due to surgery. Injuries are a huge waste of time and talent, and frankly, they suck. If you're regimented with your treatment, your return on investment will go up and risk of injury will go down. This lesson of preparation can be carried over into other aspects of your day to help manage your time.

2. Breathe

Most of all, it is so important to breathe. It's an autonomic function of the body so we don't often pay attention to our breathing but the power of focusing small amounts of time on your breathing shows amazing benefits, ranging from increased core muscle strength, improved blood flow, and reduced stress levels. Taking time out of your day to focus on your breath and doing small breathing exercises are a great way to refocus yourself on the task at hand, and help maintain the stress that we are all under as college athletes. 

Related: Mindfulness for College Athletes: A 30 Minute “You”tine

3. Be Prepared

Preparing your mind for the day ahead is just as important as preparing your body for practice. When I asked Brown women's ice-hockey player, and training Olympian Vivian Lu what the most helpful tip for student-athletes is, she said simply, “write out a detailed schedule.” The simple task of just writing down your tasks for the week will help, prioritize your goals, keep you motivated in achieving them, develop a routine, and achieve a higher level of thinking and focus. With schedules full of class, practice, and extracurricular, being able to manage your priorities at a glance will work wonders for your productivity. Take a page out of Stanford Women's Tennis player Janice Shin's book: Janice takes her scheduling to the next level with her amazing bullet journaling.

4. Sort Out Your Priorities

Prioritizing is perhaps one of the most difficult challenges a college athlete faces. In a new environment away from parental supervision and surrounded by a ton of new distractions, it can be difficult to stay on top of all of your responsibilities. While it is important to keep a balanced social life for your mental health, do not get carried away in the first weeks of college by falling victim to the endless opportunities to go out. 

Related: Rate your Coaches, Facilities, and Campus Visits

It can help to look at your aforementioned schedule and answer these questions: How many nights can I spend out? Do I have any pending major assignments? How can I carve out time for fun? Once you develop a system to prioritize work, athletics, and social engagements, you will be able to strike a happy and healthy balance that is easy to maintain for your college career, and beyond. 

5. Use Your Resources

Being a college athlete, you will have access to amazing resources that can help you maximize your productivity. These resources include, but are not limited to: fellow students and teammates, professors, tutoring centers, and online resources. Being afforded the opportunity to use these resources puts you one step above the competition. From career development to financial aid for independent studies, colleges and universities seek to help you become more educated, no matter how that may be. Instead of struggling for hours on an equation or paper, don't be too afraid to go to that tutoring session, or ask the professor for their thoughts on your thesis. These are all small tips that will help take your performance in the classroom to the next level, and will help save you time in the long run. 

College athletes are constantly being asked to produce at impressive levels, and are held to a standard by teammates and coaches alike, for they project not only the image of themselves, but also the image of their teammates and programs. With this added pressure and extra time commitments, it is imperative that incoming athletes develop systems to help manage their time. By following the above tips, you will be in a much better position to maximize your productivity and maintain a healthy balance in your day to day life. 
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* Originally published on January 4, 2023, by Brandon Sires