Off Season vs. In Season
People may assume that the off season for student athletes is an easier time period. If you believe this, you are fooled. Typically in the off season, athletes will take a larger course load, which means more difficult classes. We also work out more intensely than we do in season, which mean are bodies are sore every second, every day. The NCAA has regulations on just about everything. I will break it up into a couple categories, classes, weights, practice, and extra time.
To be eligible for season, you must maintain your grades. Each year you must have a certain percentage of your major complete to remain on course to graduate. This also means that you have to be a full time student, which is 12 credits. Like most athletes, I have taken between 15 and 18 credits in both the off season and during season. Last semester I took 18 very difficult credits and that was the hardest semester of my college career. I do not recommend taking a workload like that during season. I was pulling all nighters several times a week and not providing proper nutrients to my body.
I would go to 7 a.m. weights running off of 1 hour of sleep and way too much coffee. I do not know how I was able to keep my body healthy while lifting extremely heavy weights in the morning, going to class, straight to practice, and then to the library to get school work done. Again, I strongly do not
recommend doing this to yourself.
One of the perks of being an athlete is being able to register for classes earlier than other students. We get to do this because we come to the university to represent the university by playing sports. We must attend the required activities to play the sport. It would be extremely difficult to excel on the field and in the class room if class time and practice time overlapped. When we register for classes, we ask around to see which professors we should take and which courses will be a good fit for our schedule. I am a lucky athlete because I am a criminal justice major. The criminal justice professors at my school are awesome and very accommodating to athletes. They even come out and support our team (thank you). While taking my prerequisites, I had 1 professor who did not like athletes at all and would not make accommodations with my excused absences. This was difficult because it hurt my grade in that class. While in season, February - May we miss every single Friday. We will also miss some Thursday classes because we will need to travel for the weekend. Choosing the right professor, the right course, and the right course time is very important for in season especially. You need to accommodate your class schedule around your softball schedule.
For weights, we have assigned times to go as a team to lift in the weight room. This varies per semester. My freshman year in the off season we had weights Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings. My sophomore and junior year we had weights Tuesday afternoon and Thursday and Friday mornings. This fall we had weights Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and Friday afternoon conditioning.
Our weight lifting coaches will lead us through the same workout schedule for about four weeks and then we will bump up our weights and change up the workout a little bit. In season, we do not want to be sore for competition. Depending on our travel schedule it will determine how intense our workouts will be for the week. Normally we will lift heavy on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Thursdays we will do a recovery workout to help relieve our sore muscles for our games.
The NCAA provides a specific amount of hours per week in season sports can spend doing certain activities and the same for off season sports. During the off season, we only have 8 hours a week to lift and practice. 3 hours are spent at weight, which only leaves 5 hours for practice for the whole week. Normally, we will split the time in to half hour sessions for a couple days of the week and do individuals. In individuals, there is about 2-5 athletes at practice for 30 minutes getting that time to work on specific skills with the coaches. If you want to do extra work, the coaches will not be present to assist you because of certain regulations. During our fall season, which happens to be in our off season, we get more hours in a week to practice for our 8 fall season games. Typically during that time period we will practice for 3-4 hours a day.
The month leading up to season, our hours are still restricted. The first couple weeks back from Christmas break we can do individuals. Normally during this time, my coaches will schedule 30 minute individuals with an hour of team practice, still meeting the time requirements. Right before season starts our hours get boosted to 20 hours a week. Weights still account for 3 of those 20 hours. We will then practice Monday- Saturday anywhere from 2-4 hours. When travel beings, we are not allowed to practice on Mondays. This rule is nice because it allows us a day off to recover and catch up on school work, but it is also a bummer. Right now in the preseason, we play just about every weekend. We will normally practice Tuesday, Wednesday, and travel Thursday so we on play Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This only gives us 2 days to practice. That is not much time to work out some issues we may be having as a team.
Extra time.... what extra time. Okay there really is extra time, but you have to schedule it. In the off season we have limited hours a week to spend on our sport. This gives us so much more time to do school work, hang out with friends, watch Netflix, and do other college activities. 8 hours does not sound like that much time, but really it clouds up our schedules more than people would think. On top of the 8 hours a week, we do a lot of volunteer work in the community and on campus. We also dedicate a lot of our free time putting in extra work on the field. You can not settle with the allotted practice time provided, extra work is always necessary.
During season there really is not that much extra time other than Mondays. However, this semester I am only taking 12 credits, and only have 3 physical classes to attend. I have a lot of free time during the week.
As you can see, athletes are always busy. Whether it be working with the minimal hours required by the NCAA or working extra, there is always room to improve and never time to settle.
To be eligible for season, you must maintain your grades. Each year you must have a certain percentage of your major complete to remain on course to graduate. This also means that you have to be a full time student, which is 12 credits. Like most athletes, I have taken between 15 and 18 credits in both the off season and during season. Last semester I took 18 very difficult credits and that was the hardest semester of my college career. I do not recommend taking a workload like that during season. I was pulling all nighters several times a week and not providing proper nutrients to my body.
I would go to 7 a.m. weights running off of 1 hour of sleep and way too much coffee. I do not know how I was able to keep my body healthy while lifting extremely heavy weights in the morning, going to class, straight to practice, and then to the library to get school work done. Again, I strongly do not
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| After almost two all nighters picture right before 7 a.m. weights | fall semester 2017 |
For weights, we have assigned times to go as a team to lift in the weight room. This varies per semester. My freshman year in the off season we had weights Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings. My sophomore and junior year we had weights Tuesday afternoon and Thursday and Friday mornings. This fall we had weights Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and Friday afternoon conditioning.
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| Post fall conditioning test Dec. 2016 |
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| Ice bath to help combat sore muscles |
The month leading up to season, our hours are still restricted. The first couple weeks back from Christmas break we can do individuals. Normally during this time, my coaches will schedule 30 minute individuals with an hour of team practice, still meeting the time requirements. Right before season starts our hours get boosted to 20 hours a week. Weights still account for 3 of those 20 hours. We will then practice Monday- Saturday anywhere from 2-4 hours. When travel beings, we are not allowed to practice on Mondays. This rule is nice because it allows us a day off to recover and catch up on school work, but it is also a bummer. Right now in the preseason, we play just about every weekend. We will normally practice Tuesday, Wednesday, and travel Thursday so we on play Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This only gives us 2 days to practice. That is not much time to work out some issues we may be having as a team.
Extra time.... what extra time. Okay there really is extra time, but you have to schedule it. In the off season we have limited hours a week to spend on our sport. This gives us so much more time to do school work, hang out with friends, watch Netflix, and do other college activities. 8 hours does not sound like that much time, but really it clouds up our schedules more than people would think. On top of the 8 hours a week, we do a lot of volunteer work in the community and on campus. We also dedicate a lot of our free time putting in extra work on the field. You can not settle with the allotted practice time provided, extra work is always necessary.
During season there really is not that much extra time other than Mondays. However, this semester I am only taking 12 credits, and only have 3 physical classes to attend. I have a lot of free time during the week.
As you can see, athletes are always busy. Whether it be working with the minimal hours required by the NCAA or working extra, there is always room to improve and never time to settle.
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