Major
Public Relations
Minor(s)
Business; Leadership Studies
Advisor
Proulx, Tracy
Advisor Department
Communication Studies
Date
5-2018
Keywords
College athletics; time management; student-athlete lifestyle; balance
Abstract
Millions of individuals take the leap after high school to attend a two or four-year university. During the first couple years of college, students are introduced to the challenges and obstacles of balancing their time. This balance may include academics, clubs, sports, social events, and all of the above. Through my project, I focus my lens on the lives of collegiate student-athletes and how they are thrown into a hectic lifestyle, where perfecting your time management skills seems to be the only route to success.
More than 480,000 NCAA student-athletes compete in 24 sports every year (NCAA.org, 2018). Despite their childhood dreams, it is the unfortunate reality that all student-athletes cannot continue playing their respective sport at the professional level. Low percentages provide the realistic numbers of how many college athletes turn professional. This low rate of advancement increases the importance for student-athletes to complete their degrees and attain jobs in the general work force. Achieving excellence on and off the playing field, requires diligent efforts to manage time effectively.
Through my research, I conducted interviews and held numerous conversations with current and former collegiate student-athletes to hear their thoughts on how time management has directly impacted their college career as a student-athlete. My findings provide a well-structured analysis of how mastering time management skills will provide beneficial results for collegiate student-athletes after their playing days’ end. Through my interactions with current and former student-athletes, I explore their initial challenges with balancing their time as well as the positive benefits that have come to prosper towards the end of their college career. Although my project highlights the lives of collegiate student-athletes, I believe all can relate because everyone has some sort of position or activity that they participate in regularly that pushes them to balance their time effectively in order to complete their tasks to the best of their ability.
Although I am not considered a college student-athlete, my project was able to come to life through my experience as the head student manager of the URI men’s basketball team. Through this position, I, too, was able to learn how to master my time management through balancing all aspects of my college life including having an integral role with the men’s basketball program. Please view my project for an in-depth look on an analysis of time management as a collegiate student-athlete.