Back-To-School: The Student Athlete Experience

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By: Kendall Lafferty

While the Rutgers University-Camden academic school year began on September 3rd, the fall student-athlete year began long before that. The beginning of each semester is often filled with anxiety, excitement, and sadness of the summer coming to an end. While this is true for most students, student-athletes participating in fall sports start their back-to-school journey even earlier. Rutgers-Camden offers both men’s and women’s cross country, soccer, and tennis; women’s volleyball and men’s golf. Athletes that participate in these sports have their pre-season begin at the end of the summer so that they can be ready for their games starting in September. Not only do these athletes have to prepare for the quickly approaching season, but they also have to prepare for their course load.

The student-athlete experience is not just about continuing one’s athletic career but it is very much a balancing act. When dual sport sophomore Mia Owens (Volleyball and Softball) was asked about balancing her course load she said “I think that starting the semester in the middle of my season is easier than having to adjust to the school workload after I made a set schedule”. The Rutgers-Camden women’s volleyball team had their first game of the season on August 30th, against Stevenson University, and played a total of three games before the first day

The volleyball team currently has a 3-7 overall record, and have a tri-match this Saturday, September 21st, at Washington College, where they play Washington College at 12 pm and Eastern Mennonite University at 2 pm.

The volleyball regular season lasts until around the start of November, and post season follows immediately after. Owens says she likes starting the season off this way “because once our season dies down you have more time to focus on finals without having to practice and have games and you can really sit down and focus”. While the beginning of the fall semester can be stressful for student-athletes, it also provides them with the ability to focus on finals as their season winds down. The Raptors play almost every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday of October, and their NJAC opener is Tuesday September 24th against Ramapo College.