The HCSC profile of the week is USC’s track and field jumper, Natasha Dicks. Natasha is a Senior Broadcast Journalism major, who loves spaghetti and watching videos of red pandas on YouTube.
When she’s not watching YouTube videos, or going to class, Natasha is busy practicing with her team. In fact, Natasha was named on the First Team Outdoor and Indoor All-American team for triple jump. Moreover, she took fourth at the SEC Championship in 2016 with a jump of 13.35 meters.
I met Natasha in my Creative Writing class, and her candor and humor caught my attention right away. So, one day after class, I threw caution to the wind and (tried) to catch up with her when class was over. Seeing as how I’m not a track star like Natasha, I worked up a real sweat.
Natasha graciously agreed to sit down and talk to me about what it’s really like to be a student athlete and why she doesn’t have an Instagram or Snapchat. *gasps*
Having already learned that Natasha’s favorite meal was spaghetti (she wrote an amazing poem about it in English), I moved onto other fun questions like what her favorite animal is right now. Quickly grabbing her phone, Natasha exclaimed, “please, let me share my happiness with you.” Moments later, after Natasha pulled up some pictures and videos, we both watched, enamored at this video of red pandas.
After talking about our love of YouTube, Natasha told me that she doesn’t have any social media. Like, none. I was obviously shocked, because most student athletes have social media accounts, especially to help them further their career.
While that is true, Natasha still doesn’t think that it’s worth it to have an Instagram or even Snapchat, “one of my pet peeves is when everyone is on their phone.” “Like, if I go out to eat with you and you’re on your phone I will get up and leave.” Respect.
When it comes to Snapchat, Natasha is holding off for as long as she can. “Sometimes my friends get on my nerves. I’m admittedly a goofy person, and sometimes, I’ll turn around and my friends will just be Snapchatting me. I just feel like I can’t be myself sometimes.”
Having a huge social media presence isn’t the only annoying thing about being a college athlete; in fact, there are a lot of common misunderstandings about college athletes. For starters, no one is writing their term papers for them or taking their class notes if they miss a class for an away game. Tasha told HCSC that athletes are required to get work done ahead of time if classes will be missed.
The second biggest misunderstanding is that athletes get special treatment. For example, many people think athletes get free gear, food and other gifts. But, there is actually a Compliance board that makes sure athletes don’t get treated differently.
The last misunderstanding Natasha often comes across is that people think the track team, for example, gets treated the same as the football or basketball teams do; teams with large revenues. The reality is that they don’t get treated like bigger revenue sports, and they don’t get the same fan turnouts either.
Although there are a lot of misconceptions revolving around student athletes, Natasha loves being on the track team. Simply put, Natasha says it “gives you something to do. Sometimes I’ll even find myself wishing I had practice when I don’t.”
Natasha is literally always with her team, especially when they are traveling for away games. When I asked her about traveling, Natasha said, “I love my team, but you shouldn’t be around anyone that much.” Isn’t that the truth? LOL.
But, whenever Natasha needs a breather, or wants to calm down for a meet, she plays old rythym and blues, her favorite song is I’m so Tired by Al Greene.