Meet Delaney! As a third year linguistics student and forward for the varsity field hockey team, she is the definition of busy. Luckily, I was able to catch up with her between practice and classes to talk about balancing athletics, school and regular life. So what does life look like for a varsity athlete? Read on to find out.
Delaney first got into field hockey as a substitute for ice hockey. “I really wanted to play ice hockey, but my mum wouldn’t let me, so she said I could play field hockey and take skating lessons instead.” This happened when she was nine, and she has been playing ever since.
When asked to describe her typical day, Delaney first points out that she is usually at school from 7:30am to 7:30 pm. Her day starts off with a workout, and then she goes to class, has practice from 4-6 and finally, once she’s home, she starts on homework. You might be asking yourself, “but when does she sleep?” When asked this question, Delaney jokingly says, “my coach suggests we get nine hours and fifteen minutes of sleep a night, but I typically get seven if I’m lucky.”
For Delaney, the fact that her team is like a second family is her favourite thing about being in varsity sports. “They literally saved me in first year.” Not only does sports play a huge role in her social life but it influences her academic life as well: she says, “my favourite place to study is definitely our locker room. It doesn’t smell super great but it has bean bag chairs and benches so it’s pretty comfortable.”
While she loves playing field hockey, Delaney does admit that balancing everything can be a bit of a struggle. “I can’t work because there isn’t any extra time between practice and studying.” She also mentions that eating healthy and staying on top of personal training can be difficult. Despite this, Delaney points out that this isn’t anything she isn’t used to. “I’ve been playing sports since I was kid, so I’ve always kind of had to balance school and extracurriculars. You just learn to set aside time for work and get it done then.”
When Delaney isn’t at practice or studying you can find her drawing or watching netflix. If you see her on campus, make sure you say hi!