It’s safe to say that everyone at some point in their lives experience stress. Although we know that some stress can help us achieve our goals and meet deadlines, do we push the boundaries a little too far? College athletes are an elite group of people that can attest to the downfalls and rewards of stress.

“Sports are worth it,” said senior Ying Vanschaik, who is the goalie of the Hood College field hockey team. “When school gets hard field hockey is something for me to fall back on.”

Vanschaik is a law and communications arts major with a concentration in graphic design and a juvenile delinquency minor. She is also active in other orgnaizations such as Blazer radio. She placed third in all-time saves of Hood field hockey history; that’s about five saves per game.

Vanschaik is no stranger to stress, but she handles it with grace and keeps her 3.25 GPA average. “It’s all about how much you are willing to dedicate yourself,” she said.

Although this athlete kept her cool throughout her academic and athletic career, what about those who find the consequences outweigh the benefits of being a student athlete?

Although Donna Bertazzoni, communications professor at Hood since 1987, did not participate in sports growing up, she is no stranger to the world of sports. As a die-hard Red Socks fan this professor knows her baseball.

Bertazzoni is a supporter of students relieving stresses whether they are athletes are not. “Sports aren’t for everyone, each student must find their own way even though athletics certainly can be an outlet,” she said.

Bertazzoni believes that athletics is an outlet for students because they have to focus all their attention to what is happening in the moment, “You tire yourself out, you have to focus on the game fully,” she said.

Student athletes have stresses from winning games to finishing that late night paper, to receive their diploma, coaches, athletes, counselors and professors agree they can’t do it alone. Graduation day is a celebration of the group effort it took to get the student from start to finish.
As Hood expands, both the academic and athletic department have been making steps to better their communication for student athletes to have a better experience. “There is an academic athletic coordinator,” Bertazzoni said.

While students are required to notify the instructors when they miss class because of games, Bertazzoni believes there is always room for improvement.

“I believe it might be helpful, for example, for the athletic department to send out a list of all the students who are on all teams,” she said. “It might give faculty a better sense of how many students are involved for things like advising.”

Like all things, there must be a balance for student athletes to shine in their academic as well as their athletic lives. Fabian Drain, counselor and professor at Montgomery College, in Rockville, is a large supporter of living a balanced life to avoid stress.

Fabian Drain has been on every side of this scenario:  a student athlete on his college track team, an assistant coach assistant track coach at Montgomery college, as well as a professor and current student to receive his doctorate  in Industrial organizational psychology.

“In college, we would practice for three hours. I can remember falling asleep then at 2 a.m. and then waking up and remembering I had reading to do for the next morning,” Drain said. So how does he recommend students handle stress?

“I think a lot don’t know how to handle it because they don’t know what their stresses are, this is the main issue for students,” he said. “Identify your stresses and manage your time, don’t wait until the last minute.”

Drain also noted that at Montgomery College, progress reports are given to the coaches at least three times per semester. The student athlete, professor and coach must all sign a paper clarifying absences, progress, grades and anything else of importance.

KristaLee Mellot, Hood’s head women’s soccer coach, believe the positives outrank the stresses student athletes endure each day.

“Though there can be additional stresses accompanying playing at a competitive level in college, these stresses are similar to those I experienced in my post grad life,” Mellot said. “Having played collegiate soccer while working toward my bachelors in mathematics prepared me for the stresses I faced during my grad work.”

Tom Dickman, the new Athletic Director at Hood, believes there is always room for improvement when it comes to communication between student athletes, the athletic department and faculty. He too has been on all sides of this seemly uphill battle of stress. 

Prior to his 11 years at Hood, he was an assistant basketball coach at Shepherd University, head basketball coach at Thomas Johnson High School in Frederick and was a student athlete himself for four years as a varsity basketball coach at Shepherd University.

“As an athletic department, we want our faculty members to understand the time element that student athletes are dealing with regarding games, practice and travel,” he said.  “We therefore need feedback from our faculty on how we can better make this a win-win situation.”