by Kevin Small Jr.
Student athletes, not just at Suffolk University, but also across America, are finding it more and more difficult to have to “conquer” time management.
Time management includes the process of designing a plan in a hope to increase one’s effectiveness and productivity for a specific period of time.
Michael Rockwell, a senior varsity golf player for Suffolk University, felt he had a strong grasp of his course material, however was not doing as well as he had hoped. He, like a lot of student-athletes in this day and age, struggled identifying times during the week in which he actually had to study. It was not until he started making a weekly schedule on Sunday nights that he was able to reach his full potential in the classroom.
Jeff Kelly and Alex Ypsilantis of the men’s soccer team relax in the Ridgeway building while studying in their spare time.
“When I was able to write out my class, work, and practice schedule on one piece of paper that did wonders for me because I was able to physically see the free time that I had,” said Rockwell. “This allowed me to make appointments with professors ahead of time and even put study alerts in my phone to ensure that I was managing my time well.”
Adam Kaplan, a former Suffolk University basketball player and now an assistant coach for the Rams, also believes that it all comes down to time management. The basketball program practices hard for just two hours and gives their players the rest of the day to study.
He also mentioned that his players usually take advantage of every second that they have and on road trips are buried in their textbooks completing homework and preparing for upcoming assessments.
“It definitely takes a toll on the guys when we have to travel up to Norwich, Vermont in which we almost hit Canada,” said Kaplan. “Luckily, our players are using their time wisely and are bringing their books with them when we have to commute that far.”
Last year, the men’s basketball team had 10 out of 15 players earn a 3.0 grade point average or better.
“Here at Suffolk, academics come first,” said the assistant basketball coach. “Like old the NCAA saying goes ‘we’ll probably go pro in something other than sports.’”
As a student athlete, it’s even more imperative to do the little things that great students do to be successful.
Whether it’s making a weekly schedule like Rockwell or doing homework on bus rides like the basketball team, or both. Behaviors like these add up to successful game plan for a student-athlete.
