An Ode to Davidson Female Athletes.
If I had a dollar for every time I heard, “I don’t know how you do it,” I would have been able to pay for a year’s worth of Davidson tuition by now. Being a student athlete, a female athlete at that, at Davidson is all-consuming, but also really rewarding.
I play for the field hockey team. It is a Division I fall sport–but we play throughout the entire school year. I am a student first, but field hockey is my full-time job that comes in a close second.
My classmates may see me going to practice here and there and wearing my team’s clothing, which is always nice, but this only scrapes the surface of my daily regimen. I go to practice for two and a half hours a day (which is not even adding in the time I spend suiting up before practice and then showering and stretching and ice bathing after practice). I lift twice a week. I play two games a week (and every other weekend I have to travel around the East Coast to get to those games). I am always sore. I am always tired, and I never have time to finish all my school work. Oh, and on top of that, I have to watch game film in my “free time,” and half the time I show up sweaty or super underdressed to class or any other academic function.
My sport is incredibly demanding and hard on my body–I am convinced that at the age of thirty my knees will be ruined. But I am so lucky.
I am so fortunate to wake up every day and play the sport that I fell in love when I was little. Without field hockey and the structure that it forces me to have in my life, I would lose my mind. So, yeah it sucks sometimes, and I have a crippled social life, but it is worth it. I came into school with a built-in friend group, my team, while non-athlete freshmen have that awkward period of time where they have to find friends. I have met one of the most phenomenal role models in my life: my coach.
So, yeah I know my team gear is cool, but that is not why I have chosen this lifestyle.
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