Many athletes play other roles than just athletes. They are family members, parents, they have other jobs. One common role that athletes also play is a student. Balancing academics and athletics is hard especially as both become more rigorous and demanding at younger ages. The biggest hurdle to learning how to balance these roles is time management. Time management is the process of organizing and planning how to divide time between specific activities. Learning how to manage time well will keep you organized and less stressed. First, you need to be organized, know all of your practices due dates, free time, etc. With all of that information, you can plan out what time you have to divide it between your different activities. Good time management leads to working smarter not harder. To improve in time management you can set appropriate goals to prevent demotivation, prioritize the goals you have, and set time limits to complete the task. Remove nonessential tasks, take breaks, organize yourself, and plan ahead. 

 

This blog post talks about a different way to structure your time to maximize productivity. 

 

Another way to stay on top of academics is to use the resources around you. There are plenty of study resources online, you can often go to your teachers for extra help or even ask teammates. Especially in college, there are likely teammates who have taken the class that can help you. If you are a student-athlete in college there are many resources offered like free tutoring. 

 

The biggest tip is to use the travel time to do school work.