I was recently disturbed by an ignorant comment regarding student-athletes. Someone made the remark “student athletes have a bad reputation for being stupid in school.” Ha, I laughed. We are not dumb. We are not stupid. We are intelligent human beings that deserve the same respect as other students in school. There’s two sides to every story so let me share mine.
It’s the 85th minute and it is 0-0. My legs are throbbing in pain. They feel like bricks, and at this point I might need a crane to lift them up with every step I take. So, I could quit. I could throw in the towel and mentally, physically turn the switch off. I could be done right now and all the pain would be depleted from my body. It’s that easy.
But nothing worth having in this world comes easy. There is not a single thought in my mind that contemplates quitting. It is second nature by now to erase the self-pity and continue on with pride and determination. See, that part is simple. Everyone knows that part. I could sit here and tell you how hard that is to do on a daily basis, but you already know that.
Instead, I’m going to emphasis a different part of the story. A part that many people overlook and a part that is often overshadowed. This part happens behind the scenes. The countless hours, days and months spent training our minds to adapt to the brutal conditions we encounter every day. Mental toughness is not an easy skill to acquire. It often goes unnoticed by outsiders because many non-athletes never had to experience the exasperating process it requires. In addition to studying countless hours for school, I train similar parts of my brain through endless soccer practices and strength and conditioning workouts. These mental skills include problem solving, excessive concentration, determination, perseverance, dealing with adversity, awareness, self-efficacy, visualization, etc. The list could go on forever. I also constantly exercise my motor cortex, located in the frontal lobe, to perfect different moves and skills on the field. This takes an exasperating amount of time, sometimes years, to see improvement in footwork. Time is of the essence, am I right?
These skills are hard to develop, but these are skills that apply to almost every life situation. I can proudly add these skills to my resume and directly implement them into my career and future life as a non-athlete. On top of all the training and preparation for soccer, I am also a student. A college student. I take the same classes as every other regular student. There is even a specific GPA I have to reach each year in order to maintain my eligibility. I do not get special privileges. I take the same exams, do the same homework and put in the same amount of work. I go to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to receive an excellent education. After my college days, who I will be? Just another person in the crowd. Most likely a washed-up athlete. In a few years I will have to make a living on my own, without the aid of my parents' money, so I take school just as serious as the person next to me.
Many people do not fully appreciate or grasp the excessive level of stress student-athletes are put under to reach deadlines and goals every day. It is a grind, to say the least. But you have to remember, aside from athletics, we attend a university. A university that provides an outstanding education that we never take for granted. We work extremely hard to succeed in both athletics and academics. Next time you would like to refer to us as ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid,’ I urge you to remember that we put the student in student-athlete. Nothing less.
