Dynamic schedule can take a toll on athletes’ mental health

.....Despite dedicating many hours a week to their sport, athletes are still students and must balance both responsibilities. Athletes work with professors at the beginning of the semester, letting them know when they have to miss a class due to games. Durkin said not having a complete schedule when classes started created challenges for some of her teammates.

“Professors would not be open to having someone retake a test because at the last minute, [there was a game],” Durkin said. “I don’t think they realize it’s caused us a lot of stress, too. It’s not our fault.”

The process of finding out a game has been postponed or canceled can vary for each team. Klaes and baseball head coach Marlin Ikenberry both feel that communication with the team is an important first step. 

“Once we find out that it’s been postponed, we get on a Zoom call with the team,” Ikenberry said. “One of the things we’ve talked about since day one is adversity and how we handle it — the teams that have been the most successful are the ones that can handle the adversity.”.....

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Bethany`s Notes: Being a college student athlete this spring has even bigger challenges with games being postponed, cancelled, or added last minute while student athletes scramble to inform their professors of their ever changing schedule.