Beep. Beep. Beep. It's 6:45 a.m. and your alarm is going off for yet another 8 a.m. class you had to schedule in order to work around practice. You get up, get ready, and head off to a long day. Some of your classes are those annoying general education classes you have to take just to fill up space, and some are the painfully difficult ones pertaining to your major. You always have notes to take, books to read, and quizzes, essays, exams, and other homework to finish and turn in. But, everyone has to deal with all that, so it's not fair to complain. What everyone doesn't have to deal with is the 2-3 hour long practices every single day, starting the first day of class and not ending until finals week.

You get out of class at 2 p.m. and get back to your room only to find your roommate taking a nap, something that you don't know the feeling of anymore because you know if you try squeezing in a short 30 minute nap you'll just feel worse when you have to go to practice at 3. So instead you try to distract yourself from how tired you are with school work and cleaning, and then you leave for the gym, field, court, or where ever, and prepare your body for yet another grueling practice. After practice, you may have to take a visit to the trainer to address any strains and pains, or take an ice bath to recover from the soreness you know you'll be feeling tomorrow. You go home, take a shower, and by the time you're ready to finally eat dinner, it's almost 6:30 p.m. Then, when all you want to do is lay in bed for a little while and try to relax, you have studying and homework nagging at the back of your mind. So, you're stuck staying up late to get it all done.

You're physically, emotionally, and mentally drained throughout the school year from the constant cycle. Class. Practice. Eat. Study. Sleep. Repeat. Class only gets more stressful at the same time practices get harder, and then you start having games and meets which add to even more exhaustion and stress. You miss class to ride on a bus to another school to compete, or spend a full Saturday competing and use Sunday to catch up on all that you missed. And don't get me started on the lack of a social life you have. You never have time to hang out with friends who aren't a part of your team, and when you do, you feel so tired you almost don't want to do anything except sleep.

Most student athletes don't get enough credit for all they put themselves through in order to do what they love. No matter what school or division you're a part of, all other athletes can relate and understand exactly what you have to deal with. However, we wouldn't do any of it if we didn't absolutely love what we are doing. What kind of person would put in the time, effort, commitment, dedication, energy, and stress if they didn't want to be there (the answer is no one). So yeah, some days are difficult and we actually question why we put ourselves through such pain, but we wouldn't have it any other way. We love it and couldn't imagine giving it up.