Sports

The life of a D1 college athlete

Elizabeth Ostop, Writer | 11/12/2021

Many Pirate athletes plan on attending D1 colleges to pursue their sports. Student athletes spend countless hours of their lives practicing their sport in order to get to this point. They also spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to build up the skill it takes to pursue their dreams. While being a D1 college athlete is the dream, it can also be a nightmare.

Being a D1 athlete is a lot of competition, practice, and training.

According to USA Today High School Sports, “only 0.8 percent of high school-athletes go on to compete at DI programs.” Being a college athlete takes away some of the college experience that most teenagers hope to one day experience. You do not get to go out every weekend and your weeks are practically booked. You have to find a way to balance your school work and athletics. Some may assume that being a college athlete makes things easier, but, it actually is quite the opposite. Being a college athlete raises expectations and creates more pressure.

The unknown of how far your sport can take you is scary. The chances of getting professionally drafted after college is a shot in the dark.

If your sport doesn’t take you where you wanted it to take you, you have to make sure you have a steady backup plan. In order to have a steady backup plan, you must have academic success.

Being a D1 college athlete may seem like a dream until you are living it. Athletes have to consider their abilities not only in their sport but also in their time management and responsibility. Is it worth it?