Tyler Thornton: Life as a collegiate athlete

Tyler Thornton is a senior on the Utah State University softball team. As her final season as an Aggie concludes, she reflects on what life is like as a collegiate athlete.

Being a student-athlete may seem glamorous, but it has its difficulties. Balancing sports, school, family and social life is just one challenge Thornton has faced. But in the end, she believes the pros outweigh the cons.

“I think I have felt every single emotion in the book regarding graduating and moving on,” Thornton said. “Softball has been my life for so long. For most of my life, softball has been there.”

Thornton is a utility player for the team, leveraging her skills in various positions on the field. The past two seasons, she earned academic all-Mountain West honors, was named a Mountain West Scholar-Athlete and received the Joe E. and Elma Whitesides Scholar-Athlete Award. These awards were earned because of her ability to balance school and sports.

“Tyler is one of those kids that does everything right on and off the field,” head coach Steve Johnson said. “She’s great. She never gets in trouble. She works her tail off in the weight room and in practice. She leads by example.”

After centerfielder Mazie Macfarlane suffered an injury this season, Thornton embraced the team’s “next man up” mentality and has taken over a lot of Macfarlane’s responsibilities, according to Johnson.

“Given an opportunity and has really grown in that — I mean, she’s hitting great in conference,” Johnson told the Mountain West Network before the San Diego State series. “It took a little bit as she built up into the season, but again, that everyday experience, she’s stepped up into that role and filled that spot nicely.”

Senior softball player Tyler Thornton runs across the field during the game against San Diego State on Thursday, April 6. (Photo/Elise Gottling)

Thornton said she often has to do homework on the road and coordinate with her professors because of the
missed class time.

“I found planning is so important. Everything is just on my phone. It’s all color-coordinated,” Thornton said. “I have to put designated homework time into my phone and have a plan of exactly where I was going to go, and what I was going to do — just planning everything out to make sure I get everything done.”

Angelique Heaton, a close friend of Thornton’s, admires how she manages her time among all her responsibilities.

“She really utilizes the mentors in her life. Softball takes a lot of time from school for athletics, so she’s always meeting with T.A.s or professors to catch up,” Heaton said. “Being a kinesiology major, she is very passionate about the body and takes her minor or major injuries as real-life opportunities to learn. She has her athletic physicians teach her exactly what is going on until she understands it.”

Heaton mentioned the struggles she’s seen her friend go through and how she overcomes them.

“She does what it takes to show up. I’ve seen her come back from practices or in tears because it was so hard, but the thing is, she keeps going back because she knows she loves it, and then she’ll get through what she’s struggling with,” Heaton said.

Gabriella Jimenez, a graduate infielder and catcher on the team, talked about the mental challenges of being a student-athlete and how important it is for the players to support one another.

“Softball specifically, it’s a game of failure. You fail more than you succeed. And I feel like it could take a toll on you. Our coaches and our staff here have given us resources to go to if we needed any kind of help,” Jimenez said. “Last year, we really had like a culture where we knew we could pick each other up if you were struggling. This year we’re trying to build on that and letting others know if you fail, someone’s going to be there to pick you up.”

There are mental challenges student-athletes face throughout their collegiate career. Transitioning from high school sports may be one of the toughest.

“Especially coming to a D-I level, there’s a lot more pressure that’s put on you than in high school. I mean, it’s a smaller team, you have to do your job. It’s very supportive, but you’re kind of just expected to do your job,” Thornton said. “If you don’t do it, the coach isn’t going to be like, ‘OK, let’s get you there.’ You are just kind of expected to. That can be tough mentally.”

Not only are collegiate games played faster, the commitment means something different.

“It’s definitely different because, in high school, it’s more of an activity. It’s just an extra. College is a lot more pressing on your time and mentally and emotionally,” Thornton said. “You’re going to have rough practices, you’re going to have rough days. But the difference in college athletics is every single day for a long period of time, and you really just have to figure out how to get over it faster. Each day is a new day, whereas, in high school, it was not as intense.”

Many students play high school sports, but not everyone has the opportunity to play at the collegiate level.

“There are roughly 470,000 kids who play high school ball, and there’s about 29,000 that play any level of
college, and there’s even fewer that play Division I,” Johnson said.

Johnson has seen players struggle going from being the star player to sitting on the bench.

“Sometimes it’s hard when you’ve been able to do some things very easily, and now those things you’ve got to work a lot harder on,” Johnson said. “The biggest thing for a lot of kids is they feel like they’re failing when they’re really not. They just have to adjust and understand that it’s little adjustments that have to be made, not perfection.”

Thornton said the mental struggles and difficult transition from high school are all worth it if it means she can be an example to others.

“It has meant the absolute world, especially being from Cache Valley. It’s been a hard transition for sure. A lot of growth has taken place. You’re getting to know yourself on your own but then also getting to know yourself in the game,” she said. “To have earned the pressure and the ability to compete and work and have the experiences that I’ve had is such a blessing.”

Being a woman in college athletics means a lot to Thornton. She hopes she can inspire young girls who come to watch their games.

“I have been thinking a lot about how thankful I am to be in women’s athletics at Utah State and how thankful I am to be on the softball team. I’m so thankful for the opportunity I’ve had to show strength and represent the strength of women through sports at a high level,” she said.

Thornton said this life requires hard work, mental toughness, resilience and grit. But she is grateful for the
opportunity.

“I’m thankful to be a part of a strong group of women who are all going for the same goal and who are all a part of the same motivating force, which is sports,” she said. “I’m thankful that I can able to be a part of something that’s bigger than myself, and women’s athletics has given me that opportunity to be able to do that and to represent on a big platform.”

It’s hard for Thornton to imagine a life that doesn’t include full-time softball, but she’s looking forward to what’s to come.

“As it’s coming to a close, it’s very bittersweet. I’m excited to kind of move on and start the next chapter of
my life, but I will always miss this once it’s gone. It will always have a piece of my heart, Utah State,” she said. “Everything that encompasses being an athlete is just such a special experience that I’m going to miss so much.”

Featured image by Elise Gottling from the first game of the 2023 San Diego State series.