For seniors in college, spring is a busy time. Final presentations, capstone projects and the emotional weight of leaving behind the place you called home for four years all put pressure on soon-to-be graduates. For student athletes whose primary competition seasons are in the spring, this can add another layer of challenges to the already busy time of year.
“I think for the people that are in season, it’s really challenging, particularly if we look at the softball team traveling to Texas for the [NCAA Tournament],” said Anthony Carnevale, Marist University’s sole sports psychologist. “How do you manage that when it’s on the back end of finals week and you’re coming off the goal of the season, which was to win the MAAC, and now you have to do finals presentations, get on a plane to Texas, lock in [for] the biggest game of your life?”
That’s where the Student Athlete Enhancement Center comes in. Marist’s Student Athlete Enhancement Center is a vital resource for those dealing with the stresses that come with being a student athlete. The staff who work in the center help athletes out with academic scheduling and the balance of the busy student-athlete life, while working in conjunction with faculty academic advisors and counseling services.
“We’re first and foremost, a resource for them. I always say, usually we’re the go-to, but if we don’t know the answer, we can point in the right direction,” said Ashley Buck, an assistant director at the center. “They still have their faculty advisor, but sometimes it’s easier to talk over limitations with somebody that kind of understands.”
“It’s very holistically minded,” agreed associate athletic director Alyssa Gates. “Academic support is our primary role, and that’s kind of what we were all hired to do. The secondary piece is just how we help them survive life in college as well as life after.”
This assistance comes in the form of workshops, meetings and events. A major part of Gates and Buck’s job is to make sure students are meeting the requirements that are expected of them, which includes meeting NCAA standards to maintain eligibility. Sometimes students do not realize all of the requirements that they have to meet, which is where Gates and Buck give advice. They attempt to keep their athletes in line while also offering support, which is exactly what student-athletes need.
During finals season, it’s also common for professors to be lenient toward athletes who need to travel. Buck stated that she’s proctored several exams while on the road with her teams, and Gates explained that right now, many softball players are taking final exams while getting ready to play in Texas. That helps with the academic stress, but what about the emotional stress for the senior players?
For seniors in particular, the center tries to cater their assistance to make the jump to post-college life easier. For those who have played a sport in college for all four years, it can be pretty overwhelming to go back to NARP life (Non-Athletic Regular Person, according to Buck).
“I think seniors are just coming to the realization that, like, ‘Okay, this is the end of the road, and I’m got to be a real person now,’” said Gates. “We can get all into athletic identity and how that can impact them, if they only see themselves as an athlete. Their transition out of sport can be very challenging.”
There are many identities we have in our lives: siblings, parents, partners, students and more. For those who identify as athletes, it is common for them to have this athlete identity be the most prominent image of themselves. Their attachment to the athlete identity makes it even harder to transition to life post-grad.
Because of this loss of identity, the center has been expanding its ways to help. Carnevale is planning on creating an “athlete retirement” support group to help graduating seniors. The program would include group therapy sessions to help people understand how much of their athletic identity comprises their self-image, and would offer tips on how to use the skills they’ve maintained as an athlete in “regular” life.
“I think that was a big takeaway from the program, was for them to recognize how many skills they developed: communication, time management, leadership, setting goals, hitting goals, doing challenging things, working hard, like all these things are so good for life, not just sports,” said Carnevale.
Another way to help these students is to connect them to those who have gone through similar things. Marist’s alumni network is vast, and the center has been attempting to expand the student-athlete alumni net. With alumni resources, students may see that athletic life can continue after college
At the end of the day, athletics is a community. While transitioning to being a “NARP” seems daunting, there are resources like the Student Athlete Enhancement Center that are designed to help make life seem less scary without their sport.
Edited by Ava Battinelli and Cara Lacey
Graphic by Cara Lacey
Photo from Marist Athletics
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