So first off let me begin by saying that if you are about to attend college as a college athlete and think you are going to have loads of time, do whatever you please, get drunk and attend parties on a regular day basis, you are in for a rude awakening and should probably reconsider if being an athlete is what you truly want to do. But you should still be excited and congratulations on making it to the next level! I applaud you for all your hard work and talents. 

Let me introduce myself and tell you a bit about my schedule and what a typical day is like as a student athlete. My name is Julius Saporito and I played four years of Division I baseball at Quinnipiac University. I was also an outfielder and played a little first base (three games) haha. So I will break it down for you in two separate schedules the first being the Fall season and second the Spring season which is when the regular season games start. 

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Every year when the team comes back from summer vacation at the end of August (we all know there are no vacations for athletes) we all gather together and have captains practices to prepare and condition for the 300 yard shuttle test. The test occurs within the first week of returning. Once you have passed the test you are technically allowed to be part of the team and start practices and lifts. If you fail you have to keep running it until you pass. If you fail more than two times you are no longer part of the team. 

After this a typical day to start the fall season consists of 7:00 or 8:00 a.m lifts followed by two (sometimes three) classes in a row, which lasts until about noon. This is where I get lunch, which is usually my first meal of the day because there's no time real early in the morning to eat a nice sit down breakfast unless you wake up super early and make one or shove a granola bar or banana in your mouth on the way to lift. 

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After this, I head into the athletic training room to stretch out or receive any proper treatment from the athletic trainers to prepare my body for practice. Now team practice is held which usually runs from about 3:00-6:00 p.m where we work on everything baseball related you name it. Once practice is concluded some guys have to then go and attend their night classes which go from 6:30-9:10 p.m (I advise not taking these classes unless you 100% have to). Finally, I either head to the library or dorm room to fit in some homework time. 

It's pretty much wake up and repeat for the remainder of the fall season until you get to winter break. Believe it or not, the spring season is even more hectic than what you just read. In the spring it is way harder to manage your time because when the season comes you are always on the road playing and tending to a lot of other things. 

I hope you have realized what a commitment this is and that you have to be very serious about playing a college sport in order to appreciate and love what you do without being miserable or feel like you need time off. Good luck, work hard and good things will happen! 

What's a day in your life like? Share your Daily Grind at [email protected]

* Originally published on August 17, 2022, by Julius Saporito