Preparing Your Athletes for School: The Keys to Success as a Student Athlete

By Clara Horowitz Peterson

Clara is a four-time state high school champ, five-time NCAA all-American, current professional runner and mom.

Getting ready for the school year to start is the most exciting time ever!  Two things you need to do as the school year begins are get organized and develop a routine.  As young student athletes there is so much going on! Your bodies are still growing, academics are picking up, your social life is practically a job, extra curricular activities somehow get started and most importantly, sports are starting to become the real deal. Practices and competitions are going to become a regular part of your life and are much harder than the t-ball games and peewee soccer from your early youth.

Middle and high school may end up being one of the busiest times of your life. There is so much going on!  Homework, dances, tests, crushes, practice, games and everything else you can think of all gets crammed into your everyday life.  If you are not organized during this time, your life may end up in total chaos and stress will take over.  Balancing everything is no easy task.

Start out by getting a planner. Often schools give these out, but if they don't, buy one. I guarantee it will be worth the investment! Put everything in the planner: dances, competitions, projects, tests, birthdays, assignments and everything else in your life. This way when you look at your schedule you can look at it in weeks or sometimes even months at a time. If you only look at your schedule day by day, things may sneak up on you. For example, you may not remember until the night before that you have a huge game and a project due on the same day. If you are up all night finishing that project, you will not perform your best on game day. On top of that, you will put your body under serious extra work and mental stress that takes time to recover from.

If you plan your time better and notice a week before when lots of important things come up on the same day, you can get your project out of the way so your mind can be on the game and getting to bed at a reasonable hour. There are so many ways that planning your time will help benefit your life. If you have a competition on Wednesday and a test on Thursday, you must manage your time and be organized.  If you wait until after your race or game to study for the test, you won't get to bed on time and your body won't recover from the game. REMEMBER, you need up to nine hours of sleep to help your muscles repair. Even worse, you may be stressing about the test on the way to the competition rather than mentally preparing to compete. If you study a few days before, your mind will be at ease during the competition, and you will get to bed on time afterwards. Your body will thank you for it!

Making a routine is also crucial for successful performance as a student and athlete.  I used to wait until the morning to pick out my clothes for school, pack my practice bag, make lunch and eat breakfast. To get all of that done I would have to wake up at least two hours before school! Soon I figured out that if I did it the night before, I could sleep in, roll out of bed, put on my clothes that were already laid out, and really relax during breakfast - the most important meal of the day. Then I'd grab my "already packed" bag and the lunch that I made the night before and take off. After I began this routine, my mornings were more enjoyable. When your morning is stressful, it creates anxiety that may last the rest of the day. This anxiety can interfere with everything from your performance in the classroom to your performance at practice. Start your day on the right foot by getting in the routine of getting ready the night before.

In addition to the routine of getting ready the night before, be sure you get in the routine of staying on top of your nutrition. This means making sure you have enough food packed. As a student athlete, you should be eating at least every three hours. Making sure you have snacks is crucial for your performance and general health. Along with enough food and snacks, a water bottle should be part of your pack.

There are tricks to make this easy. I used to put up to 5 energy bars and 5 packs of powdered sports drink in my bag on Sunday night. Then I wouldn't have to worry about refilling some of my snacks until the middle of the week. In general just be sure that your calories are covered to get you through the day and through practice. NEVER go into practice hungry. Always be prepared and make it a part of your routine to pack those extra goodies that will help you perform and recover.  (My favorite is PB&J's!)

Getting nutrition is important for so many reasons: energy, recovery, health, growing (if you still have a few more inches to go) and most importantly your bones!  If you get in bad routines and forget to eat, sometimes this can cause girls to lose their menstrual cycle. You must put enough energy (food) into your body to match the energy (exercise) you put out. When you lose your cycle, it's a sign that you don't have enough estrogen and without estrogen you can't build your bones. This may not sound very scary, but it is. You build 80% of your bone before you turn 19 years old. If you do not build optimal bone in your body during this time you can suffer risk of breaking your hip, spine, wrist when you get older. You do not want this to happen to you!  Get into a good routine of marking your menstrual cycle down, getting your calories in and paying attention to what your body needs.

Making your routine a good one and getting in the habit of always following it is crucial for a student athlete. Middle school and high school is about enjoying your youth, despite being very busy. The more organized you are and committed to perfecting a routine can help you perform your best in everything you do.

Be sure that you go into this school this year with all of this information in mind. If you take my advice your body will be rested, free of stress and ready to kick butt when you are out competing! It worked for me and it will work for you too!