Some people may be wondering of have wondered what it's like to be a collegiate athlete. As a collegiate soccer player at the division one level I feel I have the ability to describe this life rather well. You can't describe it in a word though. It's a lot of things. It's busy, it's fun, it's rewarding, it's hard, it's unlike any other experience you will ever have. That last part is what stuck with me when I talked to older girls who played in college before deciding if I wanted to play. A typical week during season for a division one women's soccer player will probably look something like this:
Monday: Classes all day. This is the day we have off of soccer but if you don't play much in the games over the weekend, you would do a hard extra workout.
Tuesday: This is the hardest practice day of the week. In the morning we have lifting from 6-7am. Then we go to class until practice. We have classes blocked off from 1-5pm. Most of the team will be in the training room by 12 pm to start heating muscles, using the rollers to get the acid out of our sore muscles, or doing therapy for injuries. We then will have a soccer portion of practice that ranges from 1-3:30 pm that is pretty vigorous. After that we usually have about 30-45 minutes of fitness. After we're done running we cool down for about 20 minutes and go back to the training room and repeat what we did before practice. Then some groups of players will have meetings with coach to watch film and talk strategy. When all that is finished, some people have night classes to go to.
Wednesday: Classes until practice 1-5pm. This practice is less intense and usually lasts longer than Tuesday's. We work on more functional stuff such as passing, shooting, instead of playing actual contact games. Class after practice (possibly).
Thursday: This practice is short but very intense. The day before a game is always run this way to ensure that our bodies have enough time to recover before the next day. We will play some fun contact games that usually get everyone very pumped up and competitive.
Friday: For home games, we will have a 45 minute kick around in the morning just to get us up and moving. A few hours after that we will go to a team lunch. Then about an hour after lunch we show up to our locker room about 2 and a half hours before game time just to ensure we have enough time in the training room and to change. Then we have a game for that takes about 2 hours. Afterwards, we will have a quick talk with our coach and then do whatever we need to do in the training room to help our bodies recover quickly.
Saturday: We have a morning recovery practice usually from 10am-12pm. It is a very light practice and mainly meant for people who didn't play much the day before to get touches on the ball.
Sunday: If it is a home weekend, we will have a team breakfast at 9am. Then we will get to the locker room 2 and a half hours early and do all the training room stuff. The game will last about 2 hours and afterwards there will typically be a cookout with the parents of the players.
After reading this, you may be thinking that that sounds like a lot to handle. It can be. But it's also worth it. I wasn't so sure that it would be when I first arrived as a freshman. There were many times I wanted to throw in the towel when I thought it was getting too difficult. Had I done that, I would not have grown into the person and player I am today. I owe a lot to soccer and am thankful for it everyday.
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