Dalton Noftsger isn't your typical college athlete. But like a traditional college athlete, Noftsger, who is in his 3rd year of competition with the University of Michigan Overwatch team, has a jam-packed schedule. “Being an esports player, specifically an Overwatch player, comes with an unorthodox schedule, one that focuses on having pristine mental health compared to physical health as with typical athletes,” Noftsger said, and in this look into his daily grind, he shows us that being an esports athlete takes just as much commitment and hard work as any other athlete. Here's a day in his life in his own words:
Related: Rate the University of Michigan
9:00 AM: Breakfast
I wake up at 9 every day, and I begin my morning with a small, healthy breakfast, usually consisting of some sort of fruit, some eggs, and maybe a bagel or some toast. After breakfast I head out for my walk and first class of the day.
9:30 AM: Morning walk
For me, a 20-30-minute walk in the morning is the perfect thing to get my mind in the right state to make my day as productive as possible. I just put my headphones in and walk around the block a few times to get the day going.
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM: Classes
My first class begins at 10:00 AM, and I usually have 3 classes per day, with the last one ending at 5:00 PM. I typically do a lot of my homework and studying in between these classes, as they are fairly spread out time-wise. The University of Michigan is very competitive academically, so most of my day is dedicated to doing as well as I can in my classes and doing homework outside of class.
Related: Game On: Why E-Sports are a Beacon for Equality and Inclusivity
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM: Dinner and Homework
I usually eat dinner between the time of 5:00 – 7:00 PM, whenever I can find time to take a break with my homework and make something. Dinner typically consists of some form of pasta, as pasta is my absolute favorite food, and some form of meat, typically salmon, as fish has amazing health benefits for you. After I am done with my homework is when my grind as an esports player begins.
7:00 PM – 11:00 PM: Practice
A lot of student athletes practice in the morning or during the day, but when you can practice from home or at a computer, it comes to no surprise that we do our practicing during the evening. From 7-8 PM I warm up on Overwatch to make sure that my aim and head is in the right place come our scrimmage. Our scrimmage is a 2 hour time-block from 8-10PM, in which my team and I play against another team of similar skill level to us.
These scrimmages are our main form of practice, in which our coach and us determine what to work on and practice during. My whole day up to this point is to make sure that my brain is working as well as it can, so that I can perform up to par and make the practice worth-while. Oftentimes after our scrimmage is over, we will do a review of it from 10-11 PM to see what we should be working on for the next scrimmage.
Related: Dan Marino, Esports Head Coach at Ball State University, on the Rise of Esports
11:00 PM – 1:00 AM: Bedtime routine
After I am finished practicing with my team, I will take an extra hour or two to finish up whatever homework I have left. After I am satisfied with the work I have done, I will go through my typical bedtime routine, which is similar to everyone else's (brushing my teeth, washing my face, etc.), and head to bed, ready to start the day over tomorrow.
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* Originally published on July 6, 2022, by Tyler Traskos
