Nothing like bubble guts on a Sunday afternoon and your day to speak during church. Nothing like trying not to laugh to hard because it would give your stomach a mix signal in believing that it’s okay to relax when it’s not. There’s nothing worse than a oil spill in some light colored pants , with the viscosity of a soft syrup consistency and embarrassingly warm tempered substance sliding down your back side; racing down your calve muscles and congregating at the top of your tube socks. Nothing like it. Or so I’ve been told.
How did we get here? We got here because normal human beings get ice creams with friends but I ( ...I mean some people) eat ice cream and while doing so , lose friends! Some people will clear out a room if they consume what’s commonly referred to as a sweet treat. Shamefully enough. I’m one of those people.
Do I still consume ice cream, even though I understand the potentially embarrassing implications? Absolutely ! Why would I not?!? It’s amazing! I have decided to value the ease of what feels good now instead of what it may result into later. I’m genuinely a happier person when I’m eating ice cream, and my positive mood is one that people want to be around more than if I didn’t partake.
Notre Dame Football’s sweet treat of a schedule was more than enjoyable to consume from a fan perspective but didn’t prove to have the nutritional sustenance that would award them with one of the greatest honors in College Football; getting to the College Football Playoffs. But why? With a more than impressive record of 10 wins and only 2 losses; how could they not be afforded the opportunity to play on the largest stage as a payoff to what they’ve accomplished. Simply put. The instant gratification of having a impressive record doesn’t change the long term result of the outcome of not playing tougher teams and a more difficult schedule. Notre Dame’s Football team doesn’t belong to a conference so they’re not required to play a specific set of teams. Their wins felt good at the moment but because of who they won against; it cost them long term. It’s a cautionary tale of the strength of schedule matters and just because it’s good to you at the moment; doesn’t mean that it’s good for you in the long term.
Sage advice that’s not just for those jockeying for positioning to be selected for the College Football Playoffs. This is helpful for college student athletes’ academic discipline as well. Your strength of schedule academically is important as well.
Too often times we see different teams bolstering a team GPA that’s amazing. To get a team of people from various backgrounds and academic ability to collectively have an average GPA of 3.5 is super impressive. So where’s the ice cream? Where’s the sweet treat, that’s being valued at the expense of health and longevity?
Instead of pointing fingers let me point to myself and my experience of being a student athlete. I am a kid that had the great fortune of going to college on a full ride athletic scholarship; which paid for everything. This was a far cry to what many may have thought was possible because I also failed the 6th grade, and should have failed the 8th grade as well but I “benefited” from No Kid Left Behind because at that time you couldn’t fail a kid twice under the same roof. I also was in Special Education classes where my homework was diluted down enough that my younger sibling could do my homework, while braiding her dolls hair and watching her favorite shows on Cartoon Network.
I would not have gone to college if it wasn’t for my sport. It was the perfect distraction for me to focus on my grades enough to stay eligible and that’s just what I did. This is not something that I did alone. Many of my teammates did the same. The goal was to major in “staying eligible” as opposed to something that would be too difficult; where it would require more time away from my sport to study for. Let’s be honest. If I didn’t have the sport, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to be on campus in the first place, so despite the fancy brochures and what I’m suppose to say when we have college recruits visiting; my sport comes first!
The ice cream is the picking an easy major. Picking a major that’s the significance of washing your hands with soap ; something that will keep you eligible for the moment but will not serve you in feeding your family in the future.
The bubble guts is not being a college student athlete any longer and realizing that picking the easy major that felt good at the moment; is the very reason why you’re working a job that pays a salary that you could have gotten without going to college at all. It’s realizing that when you pick something that’s “general” so it gives you flexibility in the workforce; you get thrown in general, lackluster , easily filled types of employment.
I beg of you to pick a major that will sustain the lifestyle you plan to have one day. To understand that you’ll have tough classes just like you have tough practices but it’s not an indicator that you don’t belong. Can you imagine if we took that approach in our sport? Practice is tough, so that means I need to quit. I need to find a practice session that’s easier. I need to give up on playing my sport. Do we talk to ourselves that way? Certainly not. If you did you wouldn’t have made it to become a collegiate student athlete. The same is for your classes. If classes are tough, it just means there’s a higher level of competition you’ve be challenged to prepare for. You either have what it takes to surpass your wildest dreams academically or you have the grit and determination to study the material in order to make up the difference. Either way. You got this.
Resist the urge of the instant gratification of ice cream today , because you and only you will be left to clean that 💩 up once your time is up at the university / college you currently compete at.
-Jobs 4 Student Athletes