A day in the life of a student athlete: balancing school, sports and a social life

At 6:30 a.m., Erica Moscoso’s day begins.

First it’s weightlifting, then she’s rushing nonstop to classes, volleyball practice and her student athlete mentor hours. When she makes it home after 9 p.m., it’s finally time to do her own homework.

“Sleep is definitely something I sacrifice to do well,” said Moscoso, the senior setter on the Utah State volleyball team. “It’s basically just go go go and that’s something I had to learn about as a freshman that time management is really important especially if you’re taking a bunch of classes and want to do well.”

“There are no special accommodations because you’re a student athlete,” said Andrea Patton, a former student athlete who is now a learning specialist at Utah State. “They have to make the same progress in the same degree with the same expectations as other students.”

For Moscoso, who is majoring in bioveterinary science, there is more to life than volleyball and, as her time as an Aggie is dialing down, she certainly has plans for her future.

Moscoso had a run playing volleyball in Europe this past summer with the Mountain West All-star team. Despite the potential of playing overseas, she is sticking with her academic pursuit of vet school.

She has applied to several veterinary schools and will find out in January if she will be scheduled for interviews.

Moscoso is only one of several student athletes who take academics seriously.

Grace McGuire, a sophomore goalkeeper and business administration major, spends close to six hours in the library every night and is planning on doing an internship this summer at the capitol building in Washington D.C.

Like Moscoso, she is also a student athlete mentor outside of her personal studies — a job for no credit or pay, but purely for the satisfaction of helping freshman and transfer athletes learn the art of balancing their chosen sport and schoolwork at Utah State.

“It’s cool to see that you can have an influence on freshman and transfers,” McGuire said. “It’s interesting how you can effect their experience and first look at Utah State.”

Moscoso and McGuire both achieve highly in several areas, but Patton works with athletes who have trouble balancing their responsibilities and helps them develop critical skills to succeed in a college environment.

“They all have struggles and risk factors, they’re all dealing with a lot of stress and role identity,” Patton explained. “They need to be able to say ‘hey I’m struggling and I need help’ and that’s tough for athletes.”

Study hall for the athletes, located in the Athletics-Academics Complex, is open daily and freshman are required to complete six hours of study hall per week.

There are several resources for student athletes to receive help with school, but it is completely up to them to communicate with professors about the class time they will miss. They are also required to have the same minimum GPA as other students in their chosen major.

“I have some friends in my classes and we do study groups to stay on top of things,” said Julion Pearre, a junior on the men’s basketball team.  “If I missed the lecture they send me the notes.”

Managing schoolwork on the road, though, is a more difficult version of the same story, as almost every team travels every couple of weeks.

“The past week we were in Colorado and the wifi didn’t work so I had to use my phone data to do my homework,” McGuire said. “It can be really stressful sometimes.”

The athletes have to manipulate their school schedules to accommodate the travel, sometimes going as far as taking tests two to three days early.

“We’ll leave Wednesday and not get back until Sunday morning,” Moscoso said. “You’d think we’d have extra time to study but that’s not the case.”

Coaches and academics advisors, aware of how hectic the athletes’ schedules can become, have always pushed that academics are first.

“We always say that we’re students before athletes,” McGuire said. “If you have to miss practice you just make it up on your own and studying comes before team events.”

“They require academics just as much as basketball if not more,” Pearre said.

In the midst of balancing school and sports, student athletes also have to make sure they are eating enough. The refueling station near the weight room provides athletes with healthy snacks between school and practice.

“We have unlimited access to that but eating dinner and a good breakfast is on you,” Pearre said.

Deja Mason, a sophomore on the women’s basketball team said a typical grocery list for her consists of healthy items like chicken, fruit and vegetables.

“I try to stay away from the unhealthy stuff,” Mason said, “but it’s not always easy.”

A treat here and there, though, isn’t so bad.

“We’re not super worried about body image,” Moscoso said. “We’re all confident.”

Along with that confidence comes determination, and that determination translates to the extra hours several athletes put into their sport.

“Some of the athletes spend 60 plus hours in their sport whether it be through rehab, recovery or extra workouts,” Patton said. “They’re extremely dedicated.”

In between those extraneous hours, student athletes somehow find time for friends.

For Mason and Pearre, most friend time is reserved for the weekend and they both spend most of their time with teammates. McGuire, on the other hand, tends to branch out of her comfort zone when it comes to friendship.

“My soccer team is really close but were encouraged to go out there and meet new people,” McGuire said. “I try to make friends with people from all demographics.”

The grandeur and attention that comes with being a student athlete comes with huge responsibility, and yes, balance.

On any typical day you can see student athletes out of their uniform, hanging out in the library or with friends. Or maybe strolling through the grocery store or lounging at The Hub.

And on game night you can see them on the court or field.