How to Balance Academics and College Sports

By LESLIE WILDER

To become a well-established and a gentle person in life, you have to follow a good education system and score good marks in your academics. For this, you have to take up your studies and course subjects quite seriously. But at the same time, if you keep yourself indulged in studies only, you will be missing out on other major parts of your life. One of those parts includes sports. Sports or other outdoor fitness activities are an essential part of our life. For the very same reason, sport is included along with the academics in the various colleges and institutions. Sport-related research has shown that it helps to keep our mind fresh and also the exercise part keeps us fit and healthy. Sports in colleges include various events such as types of races, football, cricket, and basketball. Nowadays, the colleges have allotted marks in sports as well so that everyone takes part in it.

Advantages of being involved in sports

College life is the time when you learn many things apart from studies, which provides important lessons in your path of life. This includes both good and bad things. Sometimes if you are influenced more by bad things, then the only way to get out of them is through sports.

• It prevents you from becoming addicted to injurious habits like smoking, drinking, etc.
• It makes you more conscious about your health and would keep you fit.
• If you are indulged in physical exercises, then your body will be more immune to diseases or other health disorders and this, in turn, will help you to maintain your regularity in college classes.
• Some government jobs choose students on behalf of their excellence in sports. So if you are good in any particular sport then you may get a chance to build up a good career in it.

Sport-related research shows that children who are indulged in both sports and academics in college are better focused on their career. This is because sports teach discipline, concentration, and time-management through its activities. It will also keep the students away from mental stress which is quite common nowadays.

Being an athlete, one can develop leadership skills or develop team game skills as well as communication skills. These qualities will come handy in working on projects. Projects demand equal efforts and contribution from all the students. In managing the schedule of athletics and academics the students will be learning the meaning of being accountable and dependable.

Which is the priority?

Both of these topics could serve as a priority in a student’s career based on his/her interests. If these two activities can be balanced equally then there is no need to prioritise any one of them. For balancing between these two, a student needs to learn effective time management. A fixed amount of time should be dedicated to each of these activities. For proper time management, they can take help from their parents or even from their teachers.

It is quite difficult to balance both

Yes, of course maintaining equal records in two different fields are very difficult but it is not at all impossible. You can give equal weight to both your academics and college sports and can produce equal results in both of them. If you get the support from your parents and you yourself provide the effort equally in both the fields then you can do them both. It will be equally good for you because you are utilizing your entire time throughout the day. It is okay if sometimes you gap out from any one of them. For example, you may skip your sports session for a few days before or during your exams. Or you can give the full concentration to sports for a few days after the exam and skip studies for a couple of days or so. The thing is you yourself have to manage your daily routine and understand when to do.

Nowadays the colleges and other such institutions are providing aid to make up with the absent classes. Students can collect the notes later and study. If they find any difficulty in understanding the context, the teachers will guide them accordingly. Athlete students should bear the responsibility of informing the professors about future absences.

People will produce the best results when they are pushed to their maximum. Pushing through their limits, students can discover their maximum abilities and on what qualities they need to develop so that they can become a better individual in the future.

Planning is essential

Planning is essential to balance academics and college sports. Students need to focus on the following points-

• The number of hours is needed to complete the essential tasks.
• Managing time to catch up with other peoples.
• Keeping some free time of their own to take part in other activities.

Students can plan out a routine for seven days in a week where time slots will be divided for each task. Whenever they will follow that particular routine, it will become easier to keep everything in a balanced state.

However, students must learn not to stretch themselves too much over the limit. This will produce adverse effects and they may suffer the consequences. Management is an important quality which is achieved while balancing between college sports and academics. Thus, a student will be able to make himself/herself a better person if he/she learns what to do and when to do.

Leslie Wilder a creative writer & blogger, who is residing in Nashville the capital of U.S. state of Tennessee, I’m also a self-proclaimed happiness junkie, and someone you would generally consider confident and well balanced.