As a student, I find myself stressing over how I barely have time to get my work done, eat, or sleep. For student-athletes, this is only the beginning. Combine the stresses of school with team meetings, practices, and early morning workouts all before noon: now that’s a busy schedule. The balance between school and athletics is hard to master. Our very own third year Laurier football defensive end has been going above and beyond to help prepare student-athletes to find success. Rashari Henry is changing the student-athlete world through his successful blog site called Stath Blog! Check out our interview with this Golden Hawk and see how he is basically superman in juggling the life of a student-athlete and being an entrepreneur.
Name: Rashari Henry
Age: 20
Home Town: Ottawa, ON
Year: 3rd
Program: Economics
Relationship Status: Single and not really sure how to mingle
Social Media Handles: Instagram: @rasharihenry/@stathblog, Twitter: @realrasharih/@stathblog Facebook: Stath Blog Stath Blog Website
Photo courtesy of Adam Jackson, Waterloo Chronicle
Why did you choose Laurier?
That’s a great question that even kind of lingered throughout my first year here at Laurier. It was great because there’d be moments that showed me exactly why I chose Laurier. Academically, I knew it was a place that would allow me to focus and excel with a smaller number of students. Athletically, I knew that I’d have the opportunity to play early and learn under some of the best in the country. Also, being someone interested in Entrepreneurship, there’s no better place to be than Waterloo.
Why are sports important to you?
I think sports are important because they can teach you so much about life. From overcoming adversity to simply managing your time, I’ve learned, and am learning, so many valuable skills that I know I’ll be able to leverage in any job or area of my life. Besides the life lessons, there’s nothing better than having a team of people who you work day in and out with to achieve one goal. From coaches to athletic therapists to your teammates, I’ve never felt like I haven’t had my back covered since I first stepped on campus.
How did you get your idea to create the concept for Stath?
Naturally, I’m an extremely inquisitive person, so during my recruitment process I would spend hours looking up each school’s programs, their rosters, and literally anything I could find. What I couldn’t find on Google were things like “What is it like being a student-athlete?” or “How do you manage school and athletics when you’re in-season?” Sure, all the other stuff I could find were useful, but those were the most important questions and the answers to them were nowhere to be found, at least not in one central place
What was your own mission and goal for Stath?
There are plenty of mistakes that I believe you should make in your first year of university, but as a student-athlete, when it comes to eligibility requirements and time constraints, there are mistakes that you sometimes just can’t come back from, but they’re often things that could have been avoided from the beginning.
Also, I think it’s a great platform to simply get to know student-athletes pertaining to things that don’t revolve around awards and scoreboards. Things like overcoming injuries or dealing with life after sports.
So in all, I wanted to help prospective student-athletes, share the stories of current and former student-athletes, and hopefully in the future turn it into a central hub for everything student-athlete related.
To what do you attribute your success?
There are a ton of people that support me but my mother would have to take the #1 spot. It seems like she has the answers to all of my questions especially when I think I know what I’m doing. She’s definitely been my backbone and I don’t give her enough credit for all she’s done to ensure that I’m successful.
If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
“Know Yourself” *Drake voice* ha ha. It’s important to know who you are, what you like, what you don’t like, etc. There will be tons of influences around you, some good, some bad, and limited guidance in the decisions you make. Each decision you make will have an impact on your life down the road so you should have a good head on your shoulders and know when to say “yes” or “no” to the opportunities that will be presented to you.
Photography credit to Christian Bender of Christian Bender Photography!
What are your plans for the rest of your time here at Laurier?
I’d like to push myself more to fully see what I’m capable of academically and athletically and hopefully win a lot more games while I still have the opportunity to do so.
How would you describe the key to success with one word and why?
I’m no DJ Khaled, but if I had to describe the “key to success”, I’d say it would have to be discipline. It’s one thing to have a plan and goal but to actually execute it and stay disciplined in the process is what I believe breeds success. It’s something that only you can control and something I’m always trying to improve on.
What are some things on your bucket list that you would like to achieve before leaving Laurier?
- Beat Western
- Yates Cup
- Vanier Cup
- All-Canadian (Athletically and Academically)
What has been your most memorable moment at Laurier?
I’d have to say this season. We’ve never been this close as a team before and it shows in all the success we’ve had this year. I think I’m currently living out the moments that you tell your kids about when you’re older and I’m just trying to soak it all up before it ends.
Stath is a gold-mine of information for even non-student-athletes to get a glimpse into this demanding world, as well as to check out the truly inspirational stories of hundreds of athletes from all different types of sports across Canada. I’d like to give a big thanks to Rashari for taking the time to share his story and success with us. He is truly a special Golden Hawk. We can’t wait to see where you will be in a few years from now and how far Stath will go. Her Campus WLU is definitely behind you!