By Charlee Settle, Social Media Manager
My day as an athlete always begins with my alarm blaring before the sun has even risen. It’s the start of a day filled with weights, practices, classes and the constant juggle of responsibilities. I’m up at 6 a.m., ready for our morning weights session. I grab a banana as I’m headed out the door, then go over to the CFSB Center. We lift anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour, depending on what our awesome strength coach has planned for us during the session.
When the lift is over, I head to Dunkin’ Donuts to grab a coffee. Once caffeinated, I head back to my apartment to shower and prepare for my classes. I typically have two classes a day twice a week that consist of projects, so during my free time when I’m not with friends or my boyfriend, I’m working on projects. Student before athlete! I have classes later in the afternoon, so as soon as they are over, I pretty much have to head to the gym to begin getting ready for practice.
We have a nice snack bar in our locker room, so I’m able to grab something that will give me the energy I need for practice. After I’ve grabbed my snack, I go into our training room for pre-practice treatment on anything that is sore or injured. We have the best trainer who always does everything he can to keep everyone fresh and healthy. Since I wear ankle braces, I don’t have to worry about getting my ankles taped, so I go into our locker room to lace those on and get dressed for practice.
We’re required to be on the court 15 minutes before practice starts to stretch and warm up. After that, our practice begins, which can usually be about two hours long when we’re not in season. When we’re in season, practice times are shorter to save our legs for games.
When practice is over, depending on how intense it was, I’ll either do post-practice treatment or head back to my apartment to shower. Once showered, I typically make myself dinner or go through a drive thru depending on how tired I am. After dinner, I’ll get on my laptop to make sure any assignments that are due are completed.
Once everything is accomplished, I enjoy some self-care time, which consists of watching Netflix or reading a book that I’m hooked on. I’m proud to say I do go to bed at a decent time, pretty much around 9 p.m. That may be because I’m getting old or that I’m just pooped from a long day of hard work.
Being a women’s basketball player is a blessing, but as you can tell from this “day in the life,” it is also a full-time job. The next time you see an athlete walking around campus, give them a round of applause.