Life as a Student Athlete

Life as a Student Athlete

By Gil Cheung, B. GS.
5th-year Bobcat basketball player enrolled in the Post degree Bed.

One of my dreams was to graduate from a University and be a "Bobcat" basketball player. Both of these wishes came true but not without a few surprises, a lot of anxiety, sweat, sacrifice... and commitment.

Brandon University is truly a very unique place. It is like no other place in the country. The students, faculty, and alumni of BU are more than friends you meet in Sept. and forget about in May. We become family and life long friends.
Brandon University has given me a experience that I would not get at any other institution. I am a student athlete with The University Men's Basketball team, and I know that the word around campus might be that the players on the team are "Slackers" and are given special treatment by people at the school. I would like to let everyone know that this could not be further from the truth. We are Student Athletes. Student comes before the word athlete. Both as a team and as individuals we put in endless hours on and off the court so that we can represent our University with pride every Friday and Saturday night. Whether it's in the friendly confines of the BU gym or a hostile arena in Victoria, we work hard everyday so that the members of our BU family can wear their Blue and Gold with pride.

Being a student athlete is the equivalent of being a working student. Our schedules are busy with all of the same activities that a regular student has, but we have to manage our time a lot wiser to ensure everything gets done. A student athlete will take 5 classes, which say run from 9:30-1:30. We would then go and grab a quick bite for lunch, run a few errands, then be at the gym by 3:00pm for a 4:00pm practice. There we practice hard and compete for 2hrs, trying to focus on basketball, and not the test that you just bombed, the phone bill that is yet to be paid, or the girlfriend who called you in the morning and says "we need to talk." For those 2hrs out of my day, believe it or not, is usually the most peaceful time I will have. Yes I'm running and jumping hard, and banging with bodies 6'10 and 265lbs, but this is a place where none of the outside distractions can get to us. Practice finishes at 6:00pm, we will go get some ice and ice our injuries for the evening.

This is what a typical weekday is for a student athlete. Trying to balance being a full-time student, a elite athlete, and to try and maintain a social life. The problems that some student athletes face especially in their first year is that they cannot figure out which aspects of being a student athlete are the most important. Like any other student, we have to have our priorities set straight, and have our own individual goals. Yes some of the guys on our team, don't get the best grades, but that's not because they are dumb or don't try, its that when your young, away from home for the first time, and have so little time to socialize, school work sometimes isn't the primary focus.

The part that I find most difficult about being a student athlete is the travel. Depending on our schedule, we can be on the road for 3-4 straight weekends. And travel with a CIS team is not like with a NBA team, yes we fly to places, but most of the time its 12 pretty large guys 3 coaches and 12 girls from the girls team and their 3 coaches on a bus traveling 12hrs to play 2 games in Calgary. People think that were lucky because we get to miss school, but 12 hours on a bus with 30 other people isn't much fun at all. Which makes me think that Prof. Mott's Canadian History class wasn't that boring after all. We will leave Wed. night, arrive Thurs. morning, practice, and then play Fri and Sat night. As soon as the game is over, we will take a quick shower, hop back on the bus and head home. We will stop off at a Burger King and grab a few whoppers and be on our way.
We will get back into Brandon late Sun. afternoon, and realize that there are a million things that have yet to be done. Some of us volunteer for the Sunday Kids basketball on Sunday, which is our only day off. We love the program and we're there helping young kids for 3 hours after being on a bus for 12. When we finally get home, it will be 5:00pm, the dishes are still rotting in the sink and there are no clean socks for Monday . The phone which is close to being cut off is ringing and sleep beckons! Monday arrives! I'm back in class listening to my peers talk about who was with who at Inferno on Sat. night . I ask myself if it's all worth it? Why not just be a regular student? But... I wouldn't trade it for the world! I'm going to University, and playing a sport I love? You really can't beat that. Can you? Then I realize that there is a test today that I forgot about, and my girlfriend still wants to "Talk." Commitment? I'd better get going. I have miles to go before I sleep.