UVM Journal: College Life

by Chris Ziegler
October 20, 2005

Well another couple weeks has passed, and the time has flown by here at school.   With that, we inch closer and closer to the first lasting snowfall.  That joyous day we all dream of in November maybe, if we luck is with us, or December when the days of dryland training are finally over, and the skis taken out for a winter of pure joy on the trails.  That's at least a thought I have running through my mind more and more everyday,  but in the real world, we must all occupy our days with thoughts of work or school.  For me, days are filled with the integration of a series, differences between photosynthesis and cellular respiration, and redox reactions.  However, I'm also thinking of rollerskiing Jericho or maybe bounding at the forest.  I am a student athlete, a rather simple term to understand, but to balance both sides is a difficult task somedays.  I am going to let in on a little bit of my experiences as a student athlete and give suggestions on what has worked for me which may as well work for you.

If you are reading this, you more than likely spend a good amount of time thinking about skiing, and spend even more time training and racing.   If you're in high school, most of your time after school is consumed by practice.  Pesonally, when the ski season was in full swing, there was not much time left in the evening after practice.  I would get out to Maplelag, where I trained everyday, about 4:00, leaving around 6:00, but many days was out there until after 7:00.  Also, many of you are ambitious enough to rise early in the morning to  train before school.  Then go to school for a good seven plus hours.  A day like this takes dedication, hats off to those of you who live this sort of daily life. For me now, the practice schedule is different, but the concept is still the same.  Morning practice at 7 am everyday, and afternoon practice on Wednesdays and Fridays, Mondays are  off.  It gives me plenty of time to think about training.

Day to day, my schedule is a little different, but in general, is a nice mix of practice and class.   It allows for occasional naps, a great way to recharge in the middle of the day, and I usually can squeeze in time for homework throughout the day.  This allows enough time to get my homework done, and adequate time for sleep, so I can wake up every morning, ready to go.  

School takes up a big chunk of your daily life.  In general, high school consists of more classroom time than homework time, but in college, the opposite is true.  I only have about 20 hours of class a week compared to close 40 hours a week in high school.  But I spend a lot more time on homework now than I did last year in high school, even with five AP classes.  The fact of the matter is that college classes are typically faster paced.  For example, Calculus 1, which in high school is a year long course, is only one semester at my college, with less days in a semester, and only four out of five of those days a week have that class. Also, during high school there is a significant amount of time to work on homework, sometimes in class, or maybe in an open hour or study hall.  But in college, that 20 hours is all learning, no homework.  It just puts more pressure on the individual to finish work.  

Time management is the key to being a student athlete.  There are limited hours after practice and sleeping to get your work done, but it is so easy to let the hours pass by pointlessly.  Watching TV, surfing the net (although skinnyski is time well spent), and maybe just staring at the wall waiting for your homework to magically get done.  I have spent plenty of time doing such activities.  It can be very hard to start working right away, often times if you are struggling with wasting time, make some rules for yourself.  I had to quit watching TV during the weeks in high school, otherwise I would whittle away my evenings in front of the TV.  Having a similar guideline, making yourself diciplined enough to follow it, will really help with time management.  Make the time to finish work.

Are you struggling with a particular class?  Get help!  There are plenty of ways in which to get help.  Most teachers I have meet are more than willing to take some extra time to help students out with their class.  Or make friends with someone in the class and study together.  It may help.  Here at UVM, a student can meet with the proffessor during office hours, or make an appointment; meet with you're teaching assistant, go to a special intruction session, or hire a personal tutor, and for athletes tutoring is free.  Help is waiting for you, but you need to go find it.  Remember, poor grades equals no participation, and there is no good excuse for poor grades.  Get help when you need it!

I hope this helps some of you balance being a student athlete.  It is difficult somedays, but it is worth all the struggle when race day or grade reports come!  

The team has just started up practice again after having last week off.  Training has shifted from mostly base training to more of a focus on intesity.  On Wednesday, we did 3k skate intervals at Jericho.  I personally enjoyed them, or at least it felt good to go fast.  Coming up on Sunday there is a 10k classic time trial, which is always a good way to see how everybody is coming along in their training.  Look for a little bit about that, and more next week with Eric.  Have a good week!