Today's Blog comes to us from Social Foundations of Coaching Student Alex Green.
Growing up, I played sports year-round. Ever since 2nd grade, it was one
sports season after the other, most of the time with two overlapping each
other. Soccer, basketball, baseball,
football, repeat, all through grade school and high school as well. So when college comes around and those kids
that have played sports their entire lives are no longer a part of an athletic
team, they don’t know what to do. Now I
do realize that this isn’t the case for everyone, but I do know it is for a lot
of students here at Notre Dame, myself included. This is why I think Notre Dame’s intramural
programs can be of the utmost importance for kids like myself and others,
whether we realize it or not.
Speaking from personal experience, because I grew up playing
sports nearly year round for so many years, I learned to manage my time in a
very efficient manner, simply because I had to in order to get everything done
in a given day. My parents were the type
that if my grades weren’t up to their standards, then I would have to put the
sports I loved to play on hold until my grades improved (and trust me, those
were some high standards, seeing as I was admitted to this great
university). Being a young kid loving
every minute of whatever sport I was currently involved in, I never wanted to
miss a practice, a game, or a weekend tournament out of town somewhere. Because of this, I made sure I structured my
day so that I would always have my work done and in manageable segments. In grade school, this wasn’t much of a
problem, but high school forced me to refine those time management skills even
further due to the increased workload as well as time spent on athletic
activities. Throughout high school, my
best semesters, academically, were those in which I was heavily involved in a
sport, simply because I forced myself to be that much more focused and
efficient in my coursework during that time.
Going into college, all of that just kind of vanished. I found myself with so much free time that I
didn’t know what to do with it. All of
the sudden I didn’t have to be anywhere at a certain time every day for 3-4
hours, I had more time. Consequently, I
got lax in my studies; I became complacent with my academic performance, all
because I had so much more time than I was used to so when I was presented with
work, I would put it off and instead surf the internet, watch TV, or play video
games with my friends. By the time I
eventually got around to do the work, I would have a ton of other work as well,
as it just seemed to pile up on me.
Therefore, I would often scramble to get it all done as quickly as
possible because I wanted to go to bed or watch more TV or something, and the
quality of the work would suffer. Once
sophomore year rolled around, I was disappointed in my academic performance and
thus turned to the only thing I knew to be of any help, sports. I got involved in all the intramurals I could
get my hands on, trying to emulate what I had grown accustomed to for so many
years before: football, flag football, basketball, softball, even racquetball
(which I’d never played before). In this
way, I added a sort of structure to my life, something that I knew I had to do
every day/week that I had to plan around.
My grades improved, I got back in a little bit better shape, I made some
new friends, but most of all, I was able to have fun playing the sports I
love.
Was it the same athletic level of intensity or commitment of
high school? Absolutely not. But what it did function as was a friendly
reminder of the way I used to do things, more efficiently and with greater
success. I needed that. I’ve come to
terms with the fact that I won’t have sports to rely on my entire life, much
less next year. Because of that, I have
learned to fill my days with other, meaningful activities, such as part time
jobs, special projects and clubs.
Without that gentle reminder of my work ethic from the past that
intramurals provided me, I’m not sure I would be as successful as I have been
these past 4 years here. And for that, I
will be forever grateful.
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