Being a great field hockey player take a lot of work. Being the best student you can be takes a lot of work. So combine them, and you see why it is so hard to find a balance between the two. There are many things you can do, though, to balance school and hockey.
10 Things to Do to Balance Hockey and School
Here are ten things you can in order to make balancing hockey and school a lot easier.
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Don’t procrastinate.
If you have a lot you need to do, then do it. If you put everything off until the last minute, then at the last minute you are going to have a lot to do.
In an article for Psychology Today about reasons people procrastinate, Pamela D. Garcy points out that about half of all students procrastinate but by doing so, they are more stressed, less effective, and have lower mental and physical stress. The moral is clear: stop procrastinating.
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Stay organize.
If you want to make life easier on your student-athlete self, then get organized. There are many ways to do this.
· Get a calendar and use it. If you know everything you have to do and when you have to do it, you will be much less likely to forget something.
· Make to do lists. Break down the things you are doing into easily doable tasks and feel better every time you get to mark something off the list.
· Know where things are. When you need to do an assignment, and you spend an hour tracking down all the materials you need to complete it, then you just lost an hour doing nothing. Make sure you keep everything where it belongs so you can quickly get it when you need it.
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Prioritize everything.
When you have a lot you need to get done, it is important to prioritize. Say that you were planning on doing drills after practice but you also have a midterm paper due the next day that still needs a lot of work. It would be nice to do both, but be realistic. Before you do drills, work on the more important paper. Then, if you have time, do the drills after.
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Make the most of your free time.
When you have time before school, a free period, a commute, or any other small amount of free time, take advantage of it. Study, do homework, go over field hockey strategies. Do whatever is next on your list. The more you get done in your free time, the less you will have to do later.
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Make time to study.
If you want to keep up in school even during field hockey season, then you need to actively make time to study. Don’t just let it wait until you have time. Set aside a specific block of time when you don’t have games, training, or practice, and set it aside to study.
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Be in the moment.
When you are doing schoolwork, don’t think about what you are going to do in your next game. When you are playing, don’t think about the paper you have due in English. Be in the moment. If you let your mind wander, then you are not going to be doing your best in whatever you are doing at the time, and you are still not going to get whatever you are thinking about accomplished at that time.
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Find and use stress relievers.
If you overwork yourself and ignore stress, then you will eventually burnout. When you feel stress coming on, do something to relieve it. You have to find what works for you, but there are plenty of different stress relievers out there.
· Meditate
· Do yoga
· Read a book
· Talk to someone
· Take a break
· Take a nap
· Have a snack
When you find out what works for you, keep doing it. It does not have to be something that lasts hours. Even something as simple as squeezing a stress ball can work.
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Take a break.
You are young. You only live once. And whatever other standard advice that fits here. But they are true. Don’t get too bogged down by school and field hockey. You will eventually get sick of one or both, and then your grip on it will begin to slip as you mentally check out.
So, it might surprise you to learn that a good way to balance school and sports is to take a break from both. Go hang out with friends, watch TV, or whatever else you do when you want to have fun. When you get back to studying and training, it will feel a lot easier, and you will find that your work greatly improves as well.
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Remember why you love hockey.
When you are training hours a day, travelling to and from games, spending summers in field hockey camp, missing parties to go to tournaments, and waking up sore each morning, it is easy to forget why you are doing it all.
If you want to continue doing well at sports, you have to remember why you are doing it all. Every time it starts to feel overwhelming, just tell yourself it is worth it because you love the sport. Maybe you can even play a scrimmage game with friends and family just for fun.
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Remember why you need to do well in school.
You get home from a long, grueling practice and realize you have a big test the next day. The last thing you want to do is break out the books. So instead, you tell yourself you don’t need to study.
This is understandable, but it is certainly not smart. On the days you feel like this, just remind yourself why you are doing it. If you want to get into a good college and learn a lot while you are doing it, then you need to make sure you study and do your schoolwork even when you do not feel like it.
Be an All-Around Star
Being a star on and off the field is hard work. However, if you work hard and use these tips, you will be a lot more likely to be successful in both of these areas.