Time Management or Competitive Nature?

After three years of being a collegiate athlete and the host for numerous recruits I have determined the most commonly asked question: How do you manage your time between soccer and school? Depending on who the questioner is (parent or recruit) my answer has ranged from “You learn to really plan ahead and we get time set aside on road trips to do our homework” to “I don’t manage it.”

It is a common assumption that student-athletes have well-developed time management skills and while I’m sure this assumption holds true for many student-athletes I am beginning to question whether it is time management or a competitive edge that allows athletes to succeed—or at least not fail—in the classroom.

Last Thursday I had a seven page and a three page paper due, along with 47 pages of reading. I also knew that I had a game the Wednesday night before that was two and a half hours away and didn’t start until 7pm. Having known all of this I had big plans to start my homework early. I had my calendar all laid out: I would get all of my homework for Monday and Tuesday done over the weekend and that would leave Monday and Tuesday night to do my work for Wednesday and Thursday. The execution of my plan was faulty. I seemed to have forgotten that time I had allotted for homework would be interrupted by class, practice, eating and not to mention Gossip Girls, House, and the Avalanche games. So, like most college students I procrastinated and come Wednesday I had completed one paragraph of my seven-page paper—nothing else.

At 12:30am Thursday morning as our bus pulled back into campus I was really wondering about that time management skill I had supposedly developed. As we unpacked our bags in the locker room I heard the stressed voices of my teammates complaining about lab reports, tests, and essays all due within the next twelve hours—I was not alone in my procrastination.

It was 1:15 by the time I had made it home, showered and settled into my desk chair to start my homework. With a cup of coffee in hand I wasn’t stressed, or worried, or flustered. I knew what I had to get done and when it had to be done by. I buckled down, focused and started to type. Two hours later my focus was drifting and the cozy fleece of my SpongeBob sheets were calling my name. Refusing to succumb to the temptation of my cozy bed, my 4^th quarter mentality kicked in.

At 10:30am I headed to campus with my papers and reading done—and done well if I do say so myself. I realized that the cause of my academic success was not my time management, but rather my competitive nature and need to push myself. Page five of my paper was like level 12 on the Yo-Yo test. It was that point when my body physically could go no further but my mind pushed my body past the point of exhaustion all in an effort to be the best—or at least not fail.