Welcome to the first entry of my Penn State Track & Field Student Athlete Blog! Today’s topic is something that I find really important to address, and that’s the perspective I have on things.  There are numerous physical and mental demands that come with training and competing at a high level and it is very easy to dwell on them.  But with being a student athlete comes a broad range of opportunities to network, learning lessons, and a lot of personal and physical rewards.

I’ve battled minor and major injuries since stepping foot on campus. I suffered two neck strains, dropped a barbell on my feet, spent almost two months exclusively cross training due to burning calf pain and foot numbness every time I ran, and had excruciating back pain any time from just standing up to sitting to walking around. It was very easy to get discouraged and disappointed whenever something new cropped up or I was taken out of commission for a period of time. Reflecting now I truly believe that everything happens for a reason and taking some days of biking or running on the anti-gravity treadmill were  not the worse things in the world. I have so much to be thankful for and instead of sulking due to injuries or the expected tiredness, I think now about how blessed I am to have support systems in place to help me succeed.

We have amazing trainers who have been so incredibly patient with me and helpful. They schedule doctors appointments, give me supplemental exercises to strengthen the smaller muscles that may be causing larger issues, facilitate my ability to cross train (sometimes in the football facility when our treadmill was broken), and have open ears whenever I want to talk. Our coaches are understanding and flexible and my teammates are simply put–the best. We have the best team captains I could possibly imagine. They set up Zoom calls for us to talk about anything and everything, most specifically things we believe we can improve upon as a team and changes we want to see made. They are role models on and off the track and they are unbelievably supportive. When I think about all that’s here for us to succeed–the people, resources, free tutoring, sports psychologist services, etc–I’m overwhelmed with gratitude. While it took me some time to be able to look back and see that my first instinct to complain about something or think to myself that life isn’t fair is unconstructive and is quite honestly an unfair victim mentality, I am able to now alter my perspective and see things through a different lense. “Okay, I have this setback, but there’s so much in place for me to get back on my feet” is the mentality that I’ve had to adopt to keep me positive and stay forward moving. It’s helped me mentally and is honestly less draining than complaining.

I will probably never say that the life of a college student athlete is easy, but I can confidently say that we can be our own worst enemies. We have the power to make our experience phenomenal and also the power to make it self destructive. It’s our choice and a change in mentality can make all the difference.