By: Jake Wilson
For students at SUNY Cortland, the second week of May is often filled with stress and anxiety as they face the final obstacle standing between them and summer vacation: Finals Week
For varsity athletes, the challenge is much greater.
Athletes must balance studying for exams with practices, lifts and games. While most students are able to focus entirely on academics, athletes are forced to divvy up their time between academics and sports.
“My sophomore year, I was taking organic chemistry two,” said Chelsey Weber, a senior on the women’s lacrosse team. “We made it to the NCAA Tournament. That was the hardest class for me, and I had to take the final two days early because I had to leave for this game. And so I didn’t fit in any time for studying because I had other finals to take.”
To get a better understanding of how varsity athletes manage this balancing act, I spoke with athletes from various sports at SUNY Cortland. The athletes I interviewed include Weber, Aaron Coston, a senior on the men’s basketball team; Kaitlyn Diem, a senior on both the women’s soccer and hockey teams, Isaiah Brunache, a senior on the men’s track and field team and Alexa Caron, a junior on the women’s lacrosse team.
What does a typical day during finals week look like for you?
“A typical day in finals week and in like normal school is: I will wake up and usually my classes start around 10-10:20, so I’ll wake up and I’ll head to Bowers,” said Weber. “And I’ll study for about 2 and a half to 3 hours, do some homework right before class and then go to class, and then I’ll go to lift and practice, eat dinner and then go to bed.”
How does your workload during finals week compare to a regular in-season week?
The athletes described how their workloads became more intense during finals week, especially when travelling for games is involved.
“Honestly, it is a lot more, especially because it is harder to find a quiet place to study because if I’m travelling on the bus there’s always music playing, which is great,” said Weber. “But it’s just a little bit harder to study.”
Brunache explained how time management and preparation became even more important during finals week.
“I’d say in terms of training wise, training doesn’t really change much. But in terms of studying wise, it’s just about time management,” said Brunache. “I try to make sure I’m prepared going into finals week so that I can just kind of use those days as brushing up and reviewing. Because I know that I’m going to have to, I still have to go to practice everyday. So for me it’s just making sure that leading up to finals week I feel prepared so that I’m not stressing during finals.
How does travelling for games impact your ability to prepare for finals?
Because travelling for games takes up so much time for athletes, many described either finding ways to do their work on the bus or trying to get as much work done as possible before they had to travel for their games.
“Travel is something that’s hard with studying and trying to do different projects,” said Diem. “You definitely have to learn how to either do homework on the bus or prioritize your time in a way that you don’t need to do it on the bus.”
Coston described how travel makes finals week “super difficult, but you just have to find a way to manage your time correctly. So bus rides are usually around like 2 hours or 2 hours 30 minutes. So within that bus ride, I try to get as much work done as I can, which is also hard because of connection problems and issues like that.”
What academic support systems are available to you?
Many of the athletes shouted out various support systems, including the Writing Center, their team’s advisor, and Supplemental Instruction.
“We have our team advisor, Kathleen Burke, she’s amazing,” said Coston. “So if we have any troubles we always text her, and she always reaches out to make sure we’re okay. If we have any problems in school and stuff, she’s the first one to know.”
Weber mentioned how she “utilized the student instruction, like the SI sessions, and I have utilized the pure tutoring in the writing center.”
Caron said how they “also have study halls. “So we need to go to Park Center or the Library for a certain amount of time during the week.