The pros and cons of being a student athlete

Being a student athlete at Yale often seems like an oxymoron. Are you a nerd? Or are you a jock? Such a unique combination only leads to a unique lifestyle here on campus. We’ve delved into the lives of these student athletes to uncover the pros and cons of playing sports at Yale.

The cons (because no one wants to end on a bad note)

Early morning conditioning

What could be worse than getting up before five in the morning? Getting up to run sprints and suicides at five in the morning. A lack of sleep and a lack of air in the lungs may not be the most ideal way to start the morning. At least the darkness can hide the tears.

Ice baths

… or very large buckets of torture? It is simply not natural to sit in a bucket full of ice and water so cold that you can’t even catch your breath. You’d think that in the current technologically advanced times of iPhones and Hover Scooters there would be a more comfortable way to ease pain and soreness. But no, freezing cold torture it is.

Staying at Bass until closing

There’s nothing like getting kicked out of Bass promptly at 1.45am. Practice and game schedules result in rough library times. The stress of trying to bang out that last p-set as the security guard passive aggressively announces the closing of Bass Library every other minute for half an hour is comparable to going to the mall on Black Friday. Gotta love subjecting yourself to that stress on a daily basis.

Groutfits

Grey on grey sweatsuits are the staple outfits that athletes wear to class all over campus. As hard as they have tried to make this the new fad, they have and will always fail. Unfortunately for them, the comfort and ease that underlies the groutfit is greatly overpowered by the outright ugliness of the outfit. 

Staying in because of games

48 hour rules can single handedly ruin your social life in season. Not having Woads to get through hump day can make the days go by as slowly as they do during finals period. Not to mention the extreme FOMO experienced as the rush from Toads to Yorkside at 1 am is heard across campus.

The Pros (because there is a reason for putting the ‘athlete’ in student athlete)

Immediate best friends

One of the most intimidating parts of adapting to college is the prospect of making new friends. After years and years with the same high school friends, this is a daunting task. Thankfully, as a student athlete, you are thrown into a group of people with similar interests (your sport) that immediately adopt you and become your best friends. 

Eating what you want 

A positive that comes from constant conditioning, lifts, and practices is that you can eat whatever you want whenever you want without worrying. If you’ve ever seen a football player in the dining hall, you know exactly how life changing this can be.

Seeing the sunrise

Who would have thought there would be an upside to early morning practices? Well, there is. The sun coming up over the field at approximately 6.58am is absolutely beautiful. Seeing this about 3 times a week while doing what you love is a very rare and amazing experience. Who needs sleep anyway?

Locker room

A student athlete’s locker roomat Yale is equivalent to the room of requirement at Hogwarts. There’s nothing you can’t do in the locker room: you can nap, do work, have a dance party, gossip, shower – the possibilities are endless! 

Laundry

Free laundry and you don’t have to do it yourself? No overflowing laundry baskets. No dragging heavy loads up and down the stairs. No waiting for open washing machines. No paying. No kicking broken machines. No worries! It’s like mom followed you to school but left the rules and the nagging at home.

Winning

Everybody knows that there is nothing better than winning. Words cannot describe the cloud nine feeling of elation and satisfaction. Especially when it’s pretty hard to win at anything else in school.

Doing what you love

Chances are you play this sport for one main reason – because you love it. When you play it, you can forget about everything else. You forget the paper you have to write later, the exam that you bombed earlier, and the embarrassing thing you apparently did on Saturday night. Having the opportunity to pursue something that you have enjoyed your entire life is truly incredible.

The student athlete experience at Yale is most definitely a unique one. While there are clearly many ups and downs, it’s safe to say that most wouldn’t trade it for the world. #ROLLDAWGS