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English 101-26

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Finally, The weather is brightening up and its time to get back on the fields. The sounds of practice can be heard all over north side as whistle after whistle is blown and the sound of players hitting eachother at football. Sounds of baseball players swinging away and Track and Field members flying around the track. These are the best of times for student athletes as they get to spend the best of days doing what they love, but many of them feel drained by now. Even though practice is really starting to heat up, the class room is winding up to get ready to finish up final mid terms and teach the last few topics for finals. Practice is more important that ever but so is class. Student athletes may seem to be enjoying the sun, but remember that each of them is putting more work in the books at home and in the library as they are on the field.

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For many student athlete, the dream to be a collegiate athlete starts in high school if not before. This is a photo from my visit in my senior year of high school when I did not fully understand the dedication it takes to be a full-time student athlete at the college level. The time commitment difference from high school to college is huge. In my University 105 class I had the opportunity to speak to Grant Porter. A sophomore Defensive Back for WSU. He told me about the Holiday Bowl that WSU Played in, in the winter of 2016. He did not get to go home for Christmas and unlike many other students enjoying their winter break, He and the team stayed in Pullman to practice for the game.

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1. Dream to be a College Athlete
2. A Home for Everyone
3. All Starts Somewhere
4. 4. Interview with Asha Johnson: "The Chance to Represent your School"
5. Student First
6. Early Fall Practices
7. Weather Makes Practice Hard
8. A Chance to Perform In Front of Thousands
9. Spring Practices
10. Club Sports: Fun and Competitive
11. Competitive Nature Drives all Student Athletes
12. College Teams Turn to Families

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Everyone on campus knows the football players, not just by size but maybe they recognize someone walking down the road and call out their name in support. This Gallery is not just focused on Football players, but instead emphasizes the amount of work it takes to be a student athlete and the rewards of being a student athlete no matter the sport. Many people do not know athletes on the Swim Team but back in high school I had a track coach who was a lead swimmer for WSU. Her name is Anne Kenney, she told me stories of walking to practice every morning at 5 am most of the time with snow and ice covering the roads. She also told me that she found that most people praised or respected her for being a student athlete because many students understood the dedication and hard work she had to put in.

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Everyone sees student athletes put work in the weight room and on the field, but many people do not understand their commitment to being students first. Think about all the work a college student has to do daily. Now add in 2 practices and workouts into that daily schedule. That is what it means to be a student athlete. Here is my friend Connor who is looking to get a major in Computer Science and maybe get a minor in Networking, but he still finds time to attend practices, workouts, and show up on game day. Being a student athlete is not easy no matter what anyone tells you. Only those that are truly dedicated to their sport can be the best on and off the field.

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8. The Chance to Perform in Front of Thousands

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8. The Chance to Perform in Front of Thousands

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As you can see in the photo, Football games are packed. Its not just football though. They do have the largest turnout, but every team has their fans and each player is thankful for each of those fans. Imagine being a starting football player and you get a call from your parents where they saw you playing on t.v. Imagine the number of people who get to watch you perform. When I spoke to Grant, he told me about the pressure of performing in from of everyone and what that feels like. He told me about the pregame butterflies that he gets in the locker room. He also told me something I never really thought about. He told me that the team is prepared to go out before every game and everyone is reminded that thousands of people are watching there every move from on the field to on the sideline and anything they do will be seen. At first this did not seem very pleasing, but he told me as the year went on, he started to forget aobut that feeling and just started being him. "Let everyone see me for who I am" he told me, "let them all watch while I put in work."

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4. Interview with Asha Johnson:          "The Chance to Represent your School"

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4. Interview with Asha Johnson:          "The Chance to Represent your School"

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If you ask a student athlete why they go through so much just to play a sport, you will get many different responses. One response I got when I interviewed a friend, Asha Johnson who is part of the WSU Rugby Team, was that she enjoyed the chance to represent her school. We spoke about her interests before WSU, and she told me she wanted to tryout for the WSU track and field team, by participating in triple jump and running sprints including 200 meter dash and 400 meter relay. When she was hurt her senior year of high school, she found that she probably would not make the cut, so she looked into different sports. Her friend recommended rugby and she fell in love with it. Her team had the opportunity to play in London over spring break and she hopes to play in New Zealand this summer. "Playing sports has given me the opportunity to go 100 percent in everything. I am happy to represent WSU all over the world." -Asha Johnson

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Before anyone ever decides that they want to be a student athlete, they first start with a dream. This dream is formed from seeing others that have already walked down the path. The dream comes from a drive to get better. The dream is the fuel to the engine that all student athletes have within. For many students, they still dream to be a college athlete and beyond but only the few actually put in the effort and time to become a student athlete. Many say they tried or it did not work out, but those same people gave up on their dream. This is not a gallery where it did not work out, but instead this is a gallery where students put in the effort to not making the team, to fighting for a starting spot. The most successful student athletes are those that keep adding fuel to their engine and go after their dreams.

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One thing every college athlete will tell you is that their team is their family here at school. Brothers and sisters they can turn to no matter the reason. "Teams that grow together win together". I cannot tell you where i originally heard this from, but it is an idea that has stuck with me my entire life. As you join a team in your early years, you can see the brotherhood that exists and this brotherhood is the leading force in why teams improve over the years. The best teams do not need superstars to carry them to victory. The best teams worked together and as a team grows together, their skills grow, their trust in each other grows, and their wins grow. There are no closer families on campus then our sports teams. People that hurt together, lose together, and struggle together are the building blocks of the strongest bonds and families.

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11. Competitive Nature Drives all Student Athletes

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11. Competitive Nature Drives all Student Athletes

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Every student that participates in any sport is driven by more than just playing the sport. At every level there is still room to improve and that is a concept many people do not understand. The main reason for my research was to show that student athletes are the leaders of our future. Not only do they put in the same amount of work academically, but they also learn much more valuable lessons from their independent sports and grow as people faster than other college students. Many student athletes are driven not only in sports but in life. They know they can always do better and they push themselves to produce the best possible outcome they can in any situation. They revise paper after paper until its perfect, they read chapter and reread chapters to ensure they ace their exams, and lastly they do not give up when it gets hard. That is something I feel a lot of people do not understand. People see student athletes as privileged students and this false image is just amplified by the media as the jock stereotype progresses through society. I want to show that student athletes are the best of the best on and off the field.
PC: Anne Donegan

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For those that do not make it onto the varsity teams at their college, many students look to play club sports to stay active. Again there is a huge misunderstanding in the amount of work put in by players and coaches alike. Club sports unlike intramural sports can receive funding from the University to play in tournaments and buy gear for their athletes, but many people still compare the level of play to that of intramural. Club teams are as serious as their coaches and in my experiences with club teams and hearing accounts from other people on different teams, club team coaches take being a team very serious and expect full commitment from their teams. Clubs sports are not varsity level sports to compare, there are not 3 practices a day everyday, but their are madatory practices that players must show up for to be part of the team. "We all want to win, but we also want to have fun" -Max Kruse member of the WSU ultimate frisbee team. He told me about the coach and how the level of play from year to year has grown exponentially and that next year they aim to get past regionals and move onto sectionals if not nationals.
PC: Anne Donegan

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As many people know the weather this past year was not very forgiving and was very harsh at times. It even led to the shut down of campus for a day. These past weather conditions did not make the life of student athletes very easy. They had to make their usual routine a little different as they had to account for the snow and ice as they traveled from practice and workouts to class throughout the day. It was hard enough for students to get to class, I cannot begin to image what it was like being out in the cold practicing. Many of the student athletes i talked to told me that many of their coaches did not care about the weather and practice went on as usual with minor changes to make sure everyone stayed healthy. Many of my friends playing sports described the pain as they walked home from practice and had to turn their showers to cold so heat from the water did not hurt their freezing body.

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For those fortunate enough to make the team, They are rewarded with early practices that lead them to class, then back for more practice, then more class, then finally more practice. Most student athletes find time in between classes and practice to get some homework done, and they also take advantage of the homework sessions that the teams hold together. These early fall practices mark the beginning of the never ending season as they look toward their first game. I say never ending season because though they have their last game in the bowl game in winter. They still have workouts until spring where they have both workouts and practice. Then as summer comes and goes they work out and practice until fall comes again and they can look toward playing a game after months of practice. The dedication student athletes display is amazing and underestimated.