A Guide to Time Management for Student-Athletes

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you imagine yourself playing collegiate sports? Is it the bright lights? Is it the dozens – maybe hundreds – of fans supporting you at each game day? Is it the great gear and perks? This may (or may not) come as a shocker to many, but being a student athlete at any institution is not as easy as you may think. It involves a lot of hard work, grit, determination, and…. time management?

Yes, time management.

If you’re competing on the collegiate level, odds are you’ve put in a great deal of work both athletically and academically to get where you are. However, being able to maintain such a work ethic even while taking 16 credits in a semester (the NCAA’s definition of the “full-time student athlete”) is easily one of the most difficult things to do when attending University.

Why is it so important?

We all know that you love the sport you’re playing, otherwise, you wouldn’t be trying to take it to the next level in college – however, there’s no sugarcoating how much of a time commitment it requires on a weekly basis. So many factors contribute that you may have never thought of if you aren’t a current student athlete, but we’ve provided a breakdown here:

1. Practice time ~ 13 hours   (43.3%)

2. Lift time ~ 4.5 hours   (15%)

3. Travel time ~ 5 hours   (16.7%)

4. Before and after practices/lifts/matches ~ 2 hours  (6.7%)

5. Team meals ~ 3 hours (10%)

6. Team meetings/watching film ~ 2.5 hours (8.3%)

Student Athlete Schedule Breakdown

All of these add up to at least 30 hours a week for any given student-athlete during their primary season, and unsurprisingly this is actually lowballing for most college sports programs.

The list can go on and on varying from sport to sport. Scholarships exist for this sole reason – because being a student-athlete is much like having a full-time job – which is why the best athletes receive these scholarships, essentially getting paid to do what they do best.

So how can I make sure I don’t drown?

The most important part about staying afloat while constantly having such a packed schedule is: structuring a plan and sticking to it.

It may sound vague, but the answer truly is that simple. The reason that this idea works is also just as simple: every student-athlete is unique in their own way. When it comes to performance, both in and out of the classroom, every person is different; they have their own tendencies, rituals, things they like and don’t like – this is why one’s structured plan may work for someone but could completely backfire for someone else.

The name of the game here is not wasting a single second of your free time. A common characteristic of the highest performing collegiate athletes that also excel in the classroom is with the amount of efficiency they are able to complete all their tasks from day-to-day. Time is rarely ever lost doing things that aren’t really worth it. In other words, that extra YouTube video you wanted to watch before starting your essay due in 3 hours? Probably not the best idea.

Enough ideas, I want an actual plan.

As said before, there is no one-stop-shop that can work for every person, but here’s a general 4-part framework that you could use for yourself and change around to for what fits best:

1) Make a weekly list:

Set your tasks up all in a weekly “to-do” list – in other words, everything you have to do for the week whether it’s schoolwork, or having lunch with a friend, put it on the list. If you can’t remember it all that’s fine you can always just add to it. Make this list every Sunday night to prepare yourself for the upcoming week.

2) Make a daily list:

Look at all these “weekly” tasks you have to do and create another “to-do” list except this one will go daily. So every night you’ll look at your weekly list, take tasks from that list, and put it on your list for the things you need to do the day after. Repeat this process every night, it’ll only take 5 minutes.

Note: Every time you complete a task make sure you cross it off both lists!

3) Be an early riser:

Some people are night owls and that’s totally fine, but what if you’ve got an early morning practice the next day, say at 6 am? Getting all your work done late at night and going to bed at 2 am doesn’t necessarily seem so appealing anymore. On the days you don’t need to wake up early for practice, do it anyway to get your work done – you’ll thank yourself later for it.

4) Start assignments the day they are assigned:

This one is by far the hardest to uphold because sometimes things just come up that you can’t affect. This is why it’s best to strive for this but if you can’t keep it up, then try your best to get as close to it as possible. You’ll find that the earlier you finish an assignment, the less stress you’ll have to get it completely done as the due date approaches.