The Fine Line: Balancing Sports and School:

The act of balancning school and sports is hard.

Seven hours of school, 2-3 hours of homework, an hour of study, 1-2 hours of sport/exercise, 7-8 hours of sleep along with all the other things that take up your time like eating, showering and just being alive make the ‘ideal’ scenrio very unrealistic.

So, how do you go about finding some sort of balance or maybe even just find time to play sport when school is digging a six foot grave for you?

Now, I’m far from perfect but I have figured out ways to make a lot of things fit that really don’t fit by following some guidelines.

1.Planning is key:

In my study room I have a white board thats called my ‘Planning Board’.

Everything I plan on doing that week or events I know I have coming up that week, I have wrote out on the board.

I also have my study plan wrote out on the same board under each respective day. By putting my study and weeks plan on the same board, it allows me be realistic about how much study I can actually get done on that day of the week.

So for example, if I’ve training on Monday chances are I won’t have a lot of time for study, so maybe I’ll do less on that day and make up for it on another day.

Another reason I like to write it all out is because seeing the board everyday makes me hold myself accountable and not just fall back on the ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ mentality.

Studies have consistently shwon that when you write down that your doing to do something at a specific time your chances actually doing it are highly increased.

2. Make your workouts short, sweet and pack a punch.

When school starts especially for those of you in the Leaving Cert cycle, you don’t have time to be mesing around, you have to be efficient with your time!

With school and studying and team training sesssions, its much easier fit ina couple of 45-60 minute sessions 2-3 times a week rather than a 90 minute session in the gym. A 90 minute block is a bug chunk out of your evening when you’ve a lot of other important things you’ve got to do.

With that said, you still need to have a plan and a program and follow it religiously. 45 minutes can quickly turn into 60 or 90 when your wandering around the gym wondering what your going to do next. So, have your program and get the meat and potatoes done like your compound lifts and main accessories and get out of there.

If your dedicated you’ll find a way to get it done in that time frame, trust me.

3. Get your sleep in:

Getting enough sleep seems simple until you’ve two hours of studying to do with three tests tomorrow along with training and an early bus tomorrow morning.

Sleep goes out the window and all-nighters become very tempting.

Very.

I am notoriously bad at getting enough sleep, some even say I don’t sleep I’m always that focus on getting things done and achieving my goals , the idea of spending time I could be working sleeping just didn’t make sense to me.

But you NEED to be getting 7-8 hours sleep every night. Getting any less can make you 1.7 more times likely to get injured, along with decreasing brain function and your energy levels with drop lower than the basement.

Trust me, I’ve been there. Being a walking zombie in school is not fun.

So, how do we try prevent this?

One thing that really helps me is planning and being organised knowning what I have to do and when it has to be done by.

I also force myself to be more productive during the day. Its kind of like ‘faking it until you make’, i.e if you practise trying to be super productive you will become productive, its a skill.

And when you get more done more often during the day, you’ll have more free time to get to bed on time or chill before bed so you can relax and actually get a good nights sleep.

4. Get your shit organised:

Always late for class? Missing a copy? Forget a piece of homework and now your late for training?

Yeah bro, you can stop these things happening with a simple solution.

Just get yourself organised.

Get yourself a wall planner and a study planner, use your homework journal and double check everything.

Get your books and copies straight and double check what you need everyday.

Have your lunch and meals organised for the next day the night before.

Have a space with your doing to study and do your work sorted and ready to go.

These are simple and small habits, but you’ll be surprised how much chaos not doing the small things can cause.

5. Get to training early and stay a bit later:

Its very achievable get up 50 shots in 15-20 minutes before or after training by yourself.

Most weeks you won’t have time for extra skill workouts so get there early and stay late and get it in.

6. Set Yourself Goals:

Its easier to stay focued when you know what your aiming for, in both your sport and school, whether that be get 6 A’s or average 2 more points than last season or make a regional team or something.

You can’t expect to get the results you want if you don’t know what your aiming for. Equally its easier put in the right work and study when you know what the goal is.

‘Be a sniper not a shooter’- Eric Thomas.

Its easier hit the target when you have elite focus, instead of just firing like crazy praying to hit something.

And take all the help you can get.

Needing extra help is actually okay contrary to popular belief.

I took extra maths classes every week during my Leaving Cert instead of PE because I needed them to get me into college.

Especially at the Leaving Cert level, its about getting into college and less about getting an education so take all the help you can to get to where you want to be.

7. Taking Breaks is Okay:

Have your own escape, whether thats a day off studying at the weekend, going to training or jus getting outside and away from the world for a while take it.

But, just make sure you earn your breaks.