Article and Video on espnWI sometimes wonder what college life would have been like if I hadn't played softball.
If I simply graced this campus without adorning my maroon athletic gear each day. If I carried a purse with me to class like most of my female contemporaries, instead of my softball bat. If I talked about going to the gym as a social activity rather than a daily obligation comparable to studying and doing homework. If I had time for midday naps and Netflix binge-watching and Starbucks dates with friends. If my college experience had been different.
Some extra time off last week, due to a midseason bye week that created a 12-day respite between games, gave me time to truly imagine what life would have been like without the demands of a 60-game season and the responsibilities of a Division I student-athlete.
Perhaps I would have gotten better grades, had more friends outside of the athletic circle, taken more time to explore the city, been more well-rested, I thought.
These thoughts are easy to imagine when the grind of multiple weeks on the road combines with the stress of midterms and other school-related responsibilities, when the difficulties of the student-athlete lifestyle sometimes make you question your capability to continue, and reason for even starting in the first place. The truth is, when the going gets tough as a student-athlete, it's sometimes tough to stay going. That's the stuff they don't tell you during your freshman orientation. That's what you have to figure out for yourself.
And in my experiences of four seasons worth of traveling and games, midterms and practices, and the ups and downs of this game of failure, I'll admit, I've sometimes temporarily succumbed to the difficulties I've encountered along the way and fallen into the trap of envying others' moments of leisure, social experiences and extra study time.
But, when it has been difficult for me to balance all of my responsibilities as a student-athlete over my college career, I've often remembered the words of Jimmy Dugan from every softball player's favorite movie, "A League of Their Own": "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."
These words have helped me snap out of past trances of self-pity and realize that I wouldn't change anything about my college experience, regardless of how unconventional and utterly insane it has been at times.
Who am I kidding? I get to play the game I love more than anything else and live my dream every day.
Sure, it's sometimes difficult to wear multiple hats and balance everything that is expected of me as a student-athlete, but that's a big part of what makes it great. It is in being pushed past the point of what you think you can accomplish and constantly working toward greatness both on and off the field that makes the experience truly gratifying, and even transformative, by the end of four years.
And ultimately, in the midst of the juggling act, between the exams, workouts, three-hour practices and traveling, when the time comes to put on the uniform and wear my university's name across my chest, there isn't a better feeling I have known.
Having the opportunity to be part of something that is bigger than myself and represent an entire population of students, faculty and alumni, while playing the game I love, is what makes the demands and difficulties of the experience more than worth it.
So, while I may have missed out on what most Americans would define as the typical college experience, my experience has been anything but typical, it has been great.
And to that, there isn't any amount of sleep or Netflix binge-watching or Starbucks dates that could even compare.
