Living with student-athletes can be very challenging. You don’t see them for days at a time, the dishes are never done, there is never a place in the fridge for your food and the washer/dryer are running 24/7.
I have four roommates and three of them are student-athletes. All have their season going on at the same time. Let’s just say this semester has been a challenge, to say the least.
Not to say that it’s all bad. I have plenty of alone time with them being gone and get to watch their games and cheer them on whenever they play.
This whole living situation is a humbling experience. I learned early this semester it is never okay for me to complain to them about being busy because any one of them will always be able to one-up me. Not only do they have the school workload regular students have, they have early morning weight training, countless meetings throughout the day, film sessions and practices every day.
Student athletes also have to travel what seems to be every other weekend for several hours to play their away games. On top of that, they still find time to get good grades and have some version of a social life.
Eating is whole other story within itself. My 6 foot 5 inches tall, 260-pound football player roommate’s meals of choice could include a heaping mound of spaghetti and a half-pound of orange chicken piled on enough rice to feed a small village for a week.
My two roommates that are on the women’s soccer team prefer meal-preparation. Meal-prep days mean you’re most likely not going to be able to cook that day unless you want to volunteer to do some of their dishes.
Also, the amount of times I’ve been stuck doing laundry at 2-3 a.m. is far higher then I care to admit.
With the many practices and training sessions my roommates have, they don’t have close to the number of practice clothes required, which means laundry–loads and loads of laundry. The amount of clothes in the washer and dryer is, to be honest, a good thing because the post-practice smell is an odor that does not need to sit there for more than a few hours.
Having student-athletes as roommates isn’t as bad as it may sound. Yes, it possesses its difficulties, but overall, I wouldn’t want to live with anyone else. Living with them has shown me that, when faced with as many challenges as they face, when you’re passionate about something, in their case their sport, it’s worth the challenges and difficulties that come with it.
