My Rough Schedule

The life of a student athlete is probably one of the most complicated things to keep up with, or to do, at least I think so.  And I'm a student athlete all year round, because I play football, basketball, and baseball, and keep up with my grades fairly well as I've been an honor student every semester since the beginning of 6th grade for me.  So what this "Life of a Student Athlete" blog is supposed to do is to basically update you on things that are going on in my life and possibly even give you advice on what to do if your struggling or when you think things are getting to hard or people are getting too hard on you.  This is my first year as an upperclassman, and I am in the hardest year of schooling as a lot of people would say.  I have chemistry and trigonometry, not helping my case, but not to mention I have to prepare and take the SAT's in hope to get a good score so that the colleges will be impressed with my academics to go along with my athletics.  Currently I am in the heat of my first season on the varsity football team, and school is ending the second week; the students and the kids are starting to get into the swing of things and soon the tough concepts and materials will be upon us.  With all the preparation and hard work that must go into to the football team each and every day, I have to stay focused and stay awake every day, and it is not an easy thing.  You get home from football practice and I feel dead some of the days and I just want to take a nap but I can't.  You see, my main sport, or main focus for the matter is baseball.  It's the sport I am better at, and it's the sport that I would like to, and see myself trying to pursue a career in.  And I'm in the middle of trying to get into a quality college playing baseball, as a pitcher, that's what I am.  With that being said, I have to get bigger and stronger and improve my pitching all winter long, fortunately for me I'm not in winter pitching sessions yet, so that's at least one less thing I have to worry about.  My main goal for the winter is to get my velocity up by the time summer rolls around for next season so that I can get schools to become interested in me.  Right now, I'm nothing, I do not throw hard enough and right now I would go nowhere, but luckily for  me I have an entire year to become what I want to be, and to achieve the standards and expectations I have for myself.  Not anyone else's but my own.  And I am currently doing my best to put the work in to get it done.  So right now at the moment this is my daily schedule during the days before Wednesday.  Try to wake up around 6:30 in the morning so I am able to have the amount of time needed to get ready and to get school.  I go to school, then after that football practice to an average of 5:30 every day.  I get home eat something then around 6:30 I leave to go to the Eastern Hills Mall where a place called Sports Performance Park is, and go to Absolute Performance or "AP" as a lot of people who go there call it.  Absolute Performance is a sports training facility inside SPP, run by former athletes and graduates of the University of Buffalo.  This place is designed for athletes looking to take the next step in their athletic career physically. There is a certified trainer who helps you, along with many other athletes like you, work on your speed and strength.  It is a very worthwhile place that I feel will help me get to the next level.  I trust them, and believe in them to help me.  Plus, you get to meet new people and athletes in your area, and maybe even kids you play against in school.  It's fun to joke around with each other about who's better than who and trash talking but it's all in good fun.  I've made some new friends since I've been there and we stay in touch even when we’re not working out.  One person who's worked out there that would stand out to most is James Starks, Running back for the Green Bay Packers, he comes and visits once in a while and that's pretty cool to see him and talk to him.  So anyways, training usually ends around 8:30 and I'll usually get home around 9, have something to eat and then get back to academics; homework and/or studying until however long it takes me, and trust me, it is not fun sometimes.  I've had to be up until all hours of the night before; I think the latest it's ever been is around 1 in the morning for me.  But usually, that's because I procrastinate so, Tip #1 for a student athlete: do not, I repeat, do not procrastinate a long project or paper that you have to do, it is not worth it to do it that night before it is due.  So is being a student athlete hard?  Yes.  Is it worth it?  Yeah I would say so, the most important reason to be a student athlete is because if your successful, it makes you feel so much better and, it makes the school year go so much faster.  'Till next time, goodluck and stay focused.