LiveLoveLax: The inside scoop

Athlete. Lacrosse player. Attacker. To people that only know me from the outside, these words essentially define me. They've become my identity. You see someone walking around campus with a black nike dri-fit backpack on that says trojan athletics across the front, and automatically certain perceptions arise. Whether its about my personality, my decisions, my lifestyle, or my academics, the world is bound to form stigmas about a person based on the club, group or team someone affiliates themselves with. I mean I do spend at least 4 hours of my day on the field, watching film or meeting with my coaches. So here is a little insight into the life of a student-athlete at USC:

Wake up at 5 am. Hit snooze. Hit snooze two or three more times. Sleep thirty more minutes. Panic. Put on the outfit for the day. Freak out because you can't find the matching shorts. Scramble through your laundry. Race to the locker room. Find your shorts. Sigh of relief. Check your email. Memorize the practice plan. Pack your equipment and binder. Run to the field. Warm up. Hold your breathe and wait for how much running you have to do pre-practice. Run. Sometimes puke. Set up the field. Practice. Hard. For three hours. Run back to the locker room. Watch film in team room. Get quizzed on opponents and go over scouting reports. Almost fall asleep from exhaustion. Grab breakfast. Race to class in sweaty clothes. Freeze in class. Try to pay attention. Finish classes. Go to Mckay center. Do homework. Study. Scour for food in the facility. Splash water on your face and focus on your work. Go home. Eat. Clean. Pass out. Do it all over again. Every day except Sunday. It is a full time job.

This is our life. My life. On an easy day. There is hardly any time for a social life, friends outside of your sport, and sometimes even family. The lacrosse team becomes your family. Sometimes I feel like I hardly have time to breathe and never get the chance to take a step back and really visualize my life. Understand what is happening around me. How I am growing and how my opinions and perspectives are changing. It all happens so fast that I forget to appreciate the little things in my life. I have to force myself to remember that I am more than just an attacker on the lacrosse team. More than just a number on a jersey. A player on a scouting report. I still have hobbies. Dreams. Real passions and ambition. It is so easy to get sucked into the athlete lifestyle that it makes it hard to keep your individuality. So everyday, I open my bible, say a prayer and look myself in the mirror. I enter each day with a new mission. A mission to better myself and grow into the woman God intended for me to be. Here's to life and all of the adventures ahead of me!