If you are a college athlete, no matter which Sport you participate in you will face one common hurdle - balancing training commitments with your studies. If you are a scholarship student then learning how to manage studying and sports is even more important since you are likely to have a minimum grade you are required to maintain in order to keep your scholarship!

Even if you are not on a team, and just like to participate in sports or fitness on a casual basis, it can also be tough to find the right balance. That’s why we have put together this collection of helpful tips and techniques to help you learn how to manage studying and sports.

Study Tips for Athletes

These handy hints are going to help athletes learn how to manage studying and sports so that they can maintain good grades while still performing well in their chosen sporting activity.

1. Get a Planner & Stay Organized - One of the best tips we can offer when it comes to learning how to manage studying and sports is to get a planner and learn to stay organized. You will be issued with a list of practice sessions and games or tournaments early on in the season. Mark all of these into your planner straight away. Add in study commitments such as homework assignments and exams as you are given the details. You will be able to see immediately if there is a clash. If you notice that an important assignment is due the day after a big game, then that is your cue to get started early. Finish the assignment before the game and you will have one less thing to stress over!
2. Learn How to Manage Your Time Effectively - Following on from making use of a planner is managing your time more effectively. You already know school hours, game times and practice times, so those are automatically blocked off already. Marking this in your calendar or planner helps you to see how much time you actually have for studying and other leisure activities allowing you to plan more effectively.
3. Make Good Use of Travel Time - As an athlete, it is likely that you will have to travel to away games and tournaments. It could be just one town over, or it could be out of state. Make the most of this time by using it to study. Pack some revision notes or textbooks to catch up on your reading on the bus! If you are going to be staying away overnight then bring some homework to do at your hotel. It is easy to see these trips as downtime or vacation, but if you gather a group of like minded teammates together who also want to study, then it is a great opportunity to stay on top of your school work.
4. Ask About Supported Study Programs - Sports teams want their athletes to do well academically. Many of them will have study support available in the form of tutors or study groups for any athlete struggling to balance study and sport. Ask if there is any help available to you and make use of it. That is why these programs are in place, so don’t be afraid to use them!
5. Don’t Treat Sport Like Work - Playing sports has an overall benefit to your mental, physical and emotional health. It gives you a healthy outlet for the pressures of studying as you get to do something you love. However, if you begin to see sport as a chore rather than a fun activity it stops serving those purposes. Never lose sight of the fact that your studies are the real work here and sport is your outlet. If you keep that in mind you may just find that they both help each other!

General Tips for Managing Studying & Sports

These are more general tips for learning how to manage studying and sports. They can be used by athletes, but are also great for the the casual sports enthusiast just trying to find the right balance.

• Listen to Audio Books or Lectures at the Gym or Out Jogging - If you are hitting the gym for a couple of hours, or maybe heading out for a run on the track you probably listen to music. Why not switch it up and use that time to listen to audiobook versions of your set texts or recordings of lecture notes? It’s a great way to catch up on reading and you will be surprised at how much sinks in!
• Workout At Your Desk - You can actually fit in a workout while sitting at your desk! Chair squats are a great way to work all of the major muscle groups in your lower body! While working on your paper, stand at your desk with your feet flat on the floor. Keep your back straight and press down with your heels, squatting until your butt is an inch above the chair. Hold for 10 seconds then sit back down. Repeat this around 20 times at regular intervals. Not only will you work your muscles, but you are also elevating your heart rate and engaging your core.
• Set Realistic Goals - Studying at college is stressful as it is without spreading yourself too thinly. It is great to want to incorporate sport into your daily routine, but be realistic. Can you really commit to a 6am run every single day or a workout session at the gym every evening? The answer is probably not! Schedule in time for your sporting activities just like you would study sessions. Think about the time available to you and use it wisely. If sport becomes a chore you will start to fall out of love with it , so stick to once or twice a week.

In conclusion, there are a variety of techniques that can be utilized in order to manage studying and sports. Regardless of whether you are an athlete trying to meet your scholarship requirements, or just a sports enthusiast looking to balance fitness and study, these tips are a great place to start.

Choose the ones that are going to work for you and adapt others to meet your individual needs. Maybe reading this list will even inspire you to come up with your own techniques for how to manage studying and sports?