Balancing Sports and Science

Written By: Jessica Churchill
Sophomore, Duluth, Minn.
Softball

Being a college student is a challenge. Being a student-athlete is an even bigger challenge; trying to juggle class, practice, and extra-curricular activities while also finding time to sleep is never easy. But when you throw in the demands of a science major (biology, chemistry, physics, etc.) you are presented with the biggest challenge of them all.

For everyone that is a science major and participates in a sport, they know exactly what I mean, everyone else will likely comment "Oh boo being a science major is no different and no more time-consuming that any other major". Let me tell you, unless you are a science major, it is very hard to grasp just how much time lab, presentations, seminars, and research suck out of the week and your life in general. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be a science major if putting in all this extra time wasn't enjoyable, but I think it's important to recognize the incredible amount of time and effort expended on completing labs, assignments, and studying for exams (especially those fearsome ACS standardized final exams) while giving up your evenings for practices and games. I know that other majors definitely have their share of papers and work, as well as research projects and seminars but the sciences demand just a bit more of your time; lab, seminars, and research are usually year round for the science geeks. Summer vacation doesn't exist for us, it's just a convenient time to do our research projects. That adds up to a lot of hours spent ingesting chemicals, dissecting organisms, and analyzing numbers on a computer that could have been spent hanging out with friends, working out, or sleeping.

I believe that all the athletes here at Hamline work very hard, maybe even harder than regular students who don't have to sacrifice study time for game time. But I also believe that the athletes who are also science majors need to be recognized especially for the amount of work they take on as well as dedicating themselves to their sport(s). Although its a lot of work trying to figure out the multiplicity of each hydrogen peak in an HNMR and as time consuming as five games in a week can be, it's always worth it. The rewarding sensation of that A on an ochem test and the joy felt after beating St. Thomas will always be worth it.