Swimmer Aly Colver is entering her senior year at the University of Kansas with a 3.89 grade point average. As a freshman, she had to learn how to adjust from the requirements of high school to the requirements of a large university.

"I swam like other year-round swimmers my age." Aly said. "I entered KU with a National Toyota Scholarship and a swimming scholarship, but I arrived at KU wondering if I could do it all as comfortably as in high school."

Transition Shock
If you already compete in sports, you may have at least some idea what it is like to be a student athlete and juggle the commitments of school, sports, and friends. For Colver, the hardest part of the transition wasn't the new level of competition, but the fact that she was suddenly much more accountable for her results in both the pool and the classroom. "I was no longer swimming for myself," she said. "Suddenly everything I did went toward the team score--or the team grade point average. It was a new kind of pressure."

Colver discovered that while the transition from high school to college was difficult, it was manageable. The hardest part, as it is for any college freshman, was dealing with the suddenly-increased responsibilities, pressures, and workload that comes with college.

"There is a huge gap between the rigor of high school and the rigor of universities," said Sabrina Youmans, a learning specialist at UCLA who works with student athletes who arrive at college without the academic or life skills they need to succeed. "I remember being really angry at my high school for leaving me so under-prepared for the demands of college. Then if you look at the student athlete profile, there are so many time demands. Personal time is squashed down into almost nothing, and it puts that really oppressive schedule on somebody who has increased academic demands. It means a difficult transition."

Many athletes become overwhelmed and wind up doing things that may sabotage their goals, such as skipping class. Managing your time effectively is one of the key aspects to having a successful career as a student athlete. Yes, you've heard it before, so no need to roll your eyes, but there's more to time management than simply saying, "I'm going to manage my time well." There are tips and techniques that will give you a leg up in the battle to stay on top of your commitments.

"A lot of people give the concept of time management lip service," said Youmans. "But if you actually value something like time management and spend time on it and reinforce it, that's when it becomes effective. Having someone on staff to make sure that happens is what differentiates college programs."

Some Tricks of the Successful Student Athlete
For a swimmer at a Division I school, or any school, a typical schedule is full of training, training, and more training. "From late August through March, each day is an interesting combination of swimming, running, weightlifting, Pilates, dryland, and stretching," Colver said. "Classes fit neatly between these sessions as well as errands, homework, church, and social life. Swimming also takes time from the usual breaks--fall, Christmas, and spring. On some breaks, we stay on campus to train all or a portion of the time, and at Christmas, we get about ten days free. We then go on an intensive training trip and return to campus before classes start to keep the pace going as we approach our final competitions and the Big XII Championships."

When faced with overwhelming demands, Colver came up with a few tricks that kept her on track. First, she discovered small ways to snatch a few more minutes for herself during her hectic schedule of twice-a-day practices during the week and one on Saturday: "The alarm goes off at 5:30 a.m.," she said. "I wear my weightlifting clothes to bed for the extra five minutes sleep."

Other tricks include making lists and doing extra credit early in the semester before she's too swamped to fit it in. "I am addicted to my schedule book," she said. "I make lists each morning after first practice, and the act of crossing off each task gives me a sense of purpose as well as blocking out everything but the next task. Planning ahead at KU is easy--our swim coach is intensely organized!"

Colver said that the best advice she received before heading to college was to always sit in the first few rows of a classroom, even the large ones. "It makes terrific sense, but some mornings when I have wet hair and raccoon eyes from goggles, I despise the idea."

One trick that many busy people may not know is that you should come first sometimes, rather than your commitments. "People don't build personal time into their schedule," said Youmans. "If you don't give yourself an hour to call your best friend or an hour to sit at the food court to talk, if you don't build in realistically what you need in life to cope, your schedule becomes overwhelming. Some people only think of time management as only scheduling things they have to do, not scheduling things they want to do." Making time to have fun and relax can be as much use as a fancy organizer to the busy student athlete.

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