Time-Management Problems

As a Christian student-athlete, one of the biggest challenges I face is time management. Even without the added difficulties of being an athlete, prioritizing is not easy. As a student, I am in school from 7:30-2:50, five days a week. In addition to all my classes, I am often loaded with homework, especially from my AP classes. Unfortunately, I can’t do homework from the minute I get home to the minute I go to bed. As a volleyball player, I also attend practice from 3:15-5:45 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have matches, which take up even more of my precious time. An away match could consist of being gone from 2-10pm. While some of that time I can do homework, I can’t do any computer homework, thus limiting my options. Thankfully, I have more time when we have home matches. I’m usually at the gym from 4:25-8:30pm. My volleyball team has team dinners every night before a home match, once again eating up my homework time. Everything I just detailed describes the life of a student athlete. Here comes the added portion of being a Christian.

I’m a part of a youth group and two Bible studies. Every Wednesday night I drive across town to youth group where I hang out with friends and learn more about God from 7-8:30. On Monday nights I attend a girl’s Bible study. We eat dinner together, spend time in prayer, and discuss our study. I am usually a little late because I go straight from volleyball in order in make it on time. My other Bible study is with my family. In order to keep up with my studies, I spend between 10 and 20 minutes everyday working on them.

Managing my time with all of my extra-curricular activities is hard. I end up spending lots of time on the weekends (sometimes up to 12 hours) trying to catch up on my homework. Although I’m so busy, I really enjoy everything and couldn’t give up any of my activities.

God bless,

Rachel C.