The Truth About Life as a Student Athlete

From the student-athlete herself. This was mostly written last semester but then she got busy with school and snowboarding and just now was able to finish it. Life from her perspective - 

It’s always something that’s talked about - the challenges of being a student athlete. Phrases are tossed around like “it’ll be hard but it’s so worth it”  and “finding a balance can be hard but it’s great once you do!” There are so many more rosy colored sayings talking about being an athlete in college. They all share in saying it’ll be so worth it and that sports and academics are an incredibly rewarding thing in college. Honestly those are just ideals, glossing over what it’s actually like; at least from one athlete’s perspective.

Let me explain. Colleges, even those that bring you in for a sport, STRESS that academics come first. Bad grades = no sport, end of story. So athletes who are there for the sport over classes tend to take the easiest ones, sliding by to enjoy their time on a collegiate team. Others work hard to do well in challenging classes while being on the team. Not trying to bash any athlete here. It’s a personal choice how you pursue your education. Colleges like to boast about their athletic accomplishments and how great their sports programs are, when students have to work diligently with professors to get the time off from class and the extensions on papers to make games and practices. This inconsistency from an academic standpoint only serves to add to a student’s already stressful life.

Sure, sounds frustrating but nothing too big to handle right? Not for me. As a sophomore I am taking challenging classes that interest me and sadly finals and end of semester projects aligned just perfectly with when my sport’s season begins to take off. Coming home from practice one Sunday (an hour drive away) I realized how unglamorous this life is. Food is eaten quickly to not waste precious time, if it happens at all. Lounging around is not something that happens, no hours wasted watching Netflix or YouTube. My room over weekends often looks as though a bomb has gone off. Time can’t be spared to clean so things are left where they are dropped. Bed unmade, church clothes tossed on the pile of sheets and blankets, equipment bag open and things spilling out on the floor, board leaning against the wall drying, boots tossed aside open to air out, iron off but still plugged in and wax sitting on the floor forgotten in the rush earlier, on top of it all various textbooks and notebooks over the dresser, bed, and desk. 

How on earth do they expect anyone to remain sane? That’s right, they don’t. They care about results in the classroom and their sport - even at the cost of their students. Balance is something you can hope for and work towards but it’s not something that will last very long in your life as an athlete in college. Early morning workouts then dashing to class sweaty and gross is a requirement of progressing in your sport. Late nights working on papers because you were at practice and didn’t have time to do it earlier is a way of life. Never ending questions from others who will never know the battle about if you need a break, if you need to give up your sport, grate on the remaining nerves. Sleep is treasured yet is never acquired in large enough amounts and naps are only reserved for when you have nothing left.

That’s just the school side, taking care of your equipment is a whole other story. Living in a dorm room as it is isn’t the greatest thing in the world. But throw in the challenge of sporting equipment - in this case four snowboards, two sets of bindings, two pairs of boots, a gear bag, waxing equipment, and base and outer layers. The already cramped room becomes the perfect space to practice living in a human sized game of tetris. Not to mention trying to prep equipment; vices are mounted on desks to wax boards or various bins, boxes, or chairs are used to hold boards so they can be waxed. I have a friend who flipped their mattress up and leaned it against the wall and used their bed frame to hold their board while they waxed it. Windows have to be opened as a precaution against the fire alarm going off. Scraping the wax off, that’s just a mess. Trying to sweep up all the flakes of wax and find every little space they fluttered into while brushing the boards is a challenge.

At the end of the day it is hard. It’s not pleasant most of the time. It’s exhausting, draining, puts a strain on relationships and social life (ha, that’s funny, what social life). To many it’s worth it. But please, don’t say it’s the best time of your life or that it’ll be the greatest decision you make. It may very well be a good one, but it’s not one that should be done lightly. The worth only comes from hard work, blood, sweat, and tears, and well, puke because lactic acid is a thing when you’re an athlete. Is it worth it to me? Depends what day and time you ask me. And that’s the reality of being a ‘student athlete.’
 

What the Heck, Winter?

Winter, wherefore art thou? Why have you foresaken us?

This has been the winter that really wasn't. It took forever to get cold, we didn't get much snow, and it's already looking like mid-April. The trees are budding, some are in full bloom. Massanutten was never fully open and probably won't be open much longer. I saw today that because of the weather (70s tomorrow after rain tonight) that they're closing for the next two days although they hope to make some snow after that and reopen for the weekend. Wisp, in Western Maryland, has closed for the season. Ski areas in the Mid-Atlantic area are really hurting this year. In New England they're doing fine; they've had plenty of snow although they've had warmer than usual weather recently as well. It's the resorts in the West that hit the jackpot this year. More snow than they know what to do with, unfortunately they can't ship it east.

Winter is basically done. I only got skiing once this year and it looks like that's it until I go to Colorado. I've already decided that I'll probably get lift tickets two days we're out there but we'll see. On the one hand it's on towards spring and summer fun. On the other Whitney still has a lot of snowboarding left.

Sugarloaf BX Weekend

It's been hard the last couple of seasons not being there to watch Whitney race. Granted, at some mountains without getting a lift ticket I still don't get to actually watch her but at least I'm there to support her and hear in the moment how things went. These days if I'm not there, which is for most races, I get a phone call after that gives me the low down on how the race went.

This past weekend were the last two USASA races Whitney was going to make. Maine Mountain has one last bx race, the Rumble at the River, but she'll be in Oregon. Overall, she felt the weekend went really well. On Saturday she came in second but it was a good race day. She got some good coaching to help with a couple spots on the course she was having problems with. Her starts were better and overall she felt good about the day.

Sunday was a fun day for her. The weather was moving into the iffy range, the winds were blowing, and they were trying to get the races in before things got worse. The directors decided to seed based off Saturday's time trials so they could move things along. There were fewer racers on Sunday so that helped as well. When they looked at the brackets, they had enough girls to put most everyone in a group of four, except Whitney unless she wanted to race the little girls. Not a challenge for her and just really not a good idea. So they asked if she was ok racing against the men's jams group which only had two racers. Of course she said yes, she loves racing guys. She may not always beat them but it pushes her to keep up and improve.

They ended up running three races. In the first one Whitney almost false started; the wind started blowing and rattled her gate. She thought the gate was dropping and was ready to go so when the starter said "go" she was just a hair behind. The good news is that she caught up and was only half a snowboard length behind at the finish. A very respectable third place. The second race had a different result. She had a good start, passed one of the guys on course, and finished in second. A bit of excitement there! Even better was the final race. I'm not sure why they ran a third race since the racers were in two different groups (Whitney in women's open class, the two guys were both in men's jams) and the guys finished in the same order. Maybe they just ignored that fact and treated it as if they were all in the same group.

The third race sounded like a "typical" boardercross race. Whitney had a great start and was right up with the guys. One of them slid out and into a fence; Whitney wasn't fazed a bit and just kept going. She adjusted her line a bit and moved into the lead, which she kept until the finish. It's always a great day racing when you can beat the guys!

Another visit or two to the trainers, a few days of practice in Maine, then on Saturday she and the other athletes from UMF going to USCSA Nationals will head to Boston to fly to the other Portland for a week of racing in Oregon. Whitney is racing boardercross on Friday, March 10 and giant slalom on Saturday, March 11.

Dealing with Injuries

One thing every athlete has to deal with at some point is injuries. For better or worse when you're pushing your body hard for months on end, something is going to break down. It may be from wear and tear or it could be a collision. You never know what will happen, especially when you're a boardercross racer.

So far Whitney has been generally healthy. She hasn't had any major collisions with other competitors or the snow but she's still had wear and tear. When you're in Maine the season gets long by the end of February and there's still all of March to go. While there still may be snow around in April the competition season is over.

The good thing is that we have a great chiropractor here. It doesn't do Whitney much good in Maine but she always gets adjustments when she's home. Right now Whitney is getting very familiar with the trainers at college. Her knee has been hurting for a while and a trainer is treating her several times a week. She needs to be feeling better for USCSA Nationals next week, then USASA Nationals at the end of March.

One of the best ways to prevent injuries is proper protection. Will it stop every injury? Nope, but it will help lessen them. Most important is a helmet. If you're racing in USASA it's required. No helmet, you can't compete, no exceptions. I don't know what the USCSA or USSA rules are but it's just foolish to compete, or even just ride, without a helmet. It's too easy to slip on the snow and hit your head. It doesn't take a hard hit to get a concussion and be out of competing for a while.

Another piece of protection is body armor. Whitney has just decided, now that she's moving up to a more competitive level, that it's time to get some body armor. She's got some upper body protection on order and should have it later this week. I'll be interested to see what she thinks of it when it comes in and she can ride with it. She's going to see how what she's getting works and decide if she's going to need to get more. I honestly don't know what "more" is but I'm sure she does.

It's getting near the end of the season, her body is starting to hurt, but it's time to push through what she can, rest what she needs to and make it to the end of the season. She'll have plenty of time to rest up after April 3 before she starts working at camp.

First NorAm Race

Last Wednesday was a big step for Whitney, as Chad, her Massanutten coach, said her first "big girl" race. This season she registered not only with USASA but also with USSA, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, and FIS, the international ski federation. USSA holds the next level of racing for boardercross and she was ready to take that step. The race she was in last week was part of the Hole Shot Tour which has races in Maine and Colorado this year. There were two days of races at Sunday River but she only registered for the first day.

It was very stressful for her with timing of the blizzard. She really wanted to get back to Maine to get to the practice day on Tuesday and be more mentally settled for the race on Wednesday especially since it was her first time racing at this level. We were able to get her car from the airport and get to Sunday River in plenty of time for her to relax a bit before the practice started. Her practice day went ok, not great. She didn't get in as many runs as she would have liked but there was a hold on the course for a while. They did extend the practice time but only by 10 minutes and she wasn't able to get through the line again. Overall, she felt ok and her complaints about the course were the same as other riders.

She did feel a bit intimidated by the level of the competition. I had to remind her that this was a mid-level race between USASA and World Cup races; that there were others like her who were just moving up to this level and there were some that were ready to move up to World Cup races. My point was proven when she told me that Seth Wescott was there racing. I think it was actually really good for her to see him there. He came in 9th, I think, on Wednesday and I asked her about it. She said that he made a few mistakes on course and his age/injuries are catching up to him. But it was good for her to see that even someone at his level can make a mistake and have an off day.

After she was done her practice we went our separate ways. She was heading back to school for some clean clothes and sleep while I went to my sister-in-law's for the night. Since they were expecting a lot more snow I didn't want to get stuck in Maine. As much as I wanted to watch Whitney race I don't have the right kind of vehicle to navigate really snowy roads.

Wednesday was race day. From what she told me she was happy with her performance. She always sets goals, for the season, for the bigger races, and she had some for this race. The two I remember her mentioning were to not finish last and to have good starts. I think another one had to do with the jumps. She said the races went pretty well for her. I think after a good night's sleep, while she was still nervous racing at this level, she felt much better about it. She got some help from the CVA coaches and also from Chad via text. She finished 19 out of 20 and said she felt really strong in her starts. She also said that the jumps went well, better than they had at practice.

It was a first good race at the next level. Her next one will actually be at USASA Nationals. The last several years they've held the Open Class race and the NorAm race together. The nice thing about this one will be that she's got one at this level under her belt and she's raced at Copper several times so it should just be regular race nerves, not "I'm doing something new and it's a really big deal" type nerves. If we can get the coaching situation figured out she'll do really well the next few seasons.

Massanutten BX, Part 2/Blizzard in Maine

Sunday was another good race day. Whitney tried to get in a group with the men but it didn't work out. She had a bit more competition but still won her races by a lot. The weather was interesting - a couple of light passing showers, sun which made it very warm, but mostly it was cloudy. A too warm day so the conditions were not the best. Still it was a fun day.

A total of four gold medals for the weekend. It was really nice to catch up with her old coaches and she had fun with the Massanutten kids. Probably the best part of the weekend for her was getting actual coaching. That has been such a struggle for her this year. A good race weekend.

The interesting twist to the weekend was the blizzard that was gearing up in Maine. Whitney flew from Portland to Baltimore and was planning on returning the same way. Didn't happen. She got an email Saturday night that her Sunday night flight was cancelled. We called and rescheduled it for Monday afternoon. She got an email Sunday late morning that THAT flight was cancelled. I called from the top of the race course (I'm glad there's good cell service at Massanutten, even on the ski slopes) and rescheduled her for Monday night. We figured that would be good. The snow was supposed to stop by 5pm so the late night flight should be able to get out. How wrong we were! I went about my day, helped Sarah with school then went to the chiropractor. Whitney called me while I was on my way home to say that her flight was cancelled again.

On to plan B. I did call to see if we could rebook her but there were only two flights going to Portland today (Tuesday) and both were full so I just got our money back for the flight. We packed up her stuff, I threw some things together, took care of a few things at home and we hit the road. Since we didn't leave Virginia until almost 3pm, we were only planning on getting to Portsmouth, NH. The drive wasn't bad, a bit of traffic here and there and in Hartford they were working on snow removal from the highway. We found a hotel in Portsmouth, got some sleep and hit the road by 8am to head to Portland. We stopped at the airport to pick up her car then went to Sunday River.

I had hoped to stay and watch her race tomorrow but they're supposed to get another foot of snow, possibly more tomorrow/tomorrow night so I'm getting out while I can. Hopefully the snow will hold off for a while so they can get the race in.

Massanutten BX, Part 1

This is an exciting weekend; we get to watch Whitney race here in Virginia again. It's been a couple of years since that's happened. She decided when we were looking over the race schedule at the beginning of the season that she wanted to come home and race at Massanutten again. Since they do four races in one weekend it's worth the plane ticket home.

We knew ahead of time that it's racing in Virginia and you never know what you're going to get. What we got was 65 degrees and a mostly sunny day. One the one hand, awesome to have 65 in February; on the other, that's not good racing weather. At least she knew ahead of time that she only had to pack a couple of base layers and wouldn't need her heavy coat to race in. I have to admit it was nice to watch her race and not have my face freeze. I enjoyed watching the race with the dad of one of the boys on the Massanutten team that we're friends with.

I have to admit one of the best parts of the day was seeing Whitney welcomed back by both the coaches and kids on the Massanutten team that know her. The kids on the team were excited to see her and they all fell into their old roles - the boys were a bunch of goofballs and they nominated Whitney coach when theirs hadn't shown up yet. They look up to her so much. The three coaches that were helping with the race were also really excited to see her; they are so proud of what she's accomplished so far in her career. What I like best is that when she needs help she can still reach out to them even though it's been a couple of years since she's been on the team. They are all more than willing to do what they can to help her move forward and achieve her goals.

It was also good to see Mark and Ellen, the series directors. Since Whitney is racing mostly in Maine she's hanging out with the Maine Mountain series directors but we don't get to see Mark and Ellen often anymore. They do such a great job organizing races, it's nice going to a race they're organizing.

Yes, there was a race today. As usual Whitney was the only one racing open class so she got two more firsts today. The one disappointing thing was that she ran with a master's woman but there was no competition there. Whitney blew her out of the water. Hopefully tomorrow they'll put her with some guys. She enjoys racing them; even if she doesn't win she has someone to chase and that makes her a better racer when she goes against other women.

Off to the races again tomorrow then we see if she can get back to Maine where they're expecting a blizzard.