In this day and age it seems like we spend most of our lives
away from home. What us college students
tend to consider “home,” during the school year, the place where we sleep and
hope to spend a lot of our time.
Unfortunately, this is far from the case, especially for students. The majority of our time is spent at our
“home-away-from-home.” We all have one,
that place we spend most of our days.
For some it’s the workplace, campuses, maybe even libraries. For myself, and most of the Queens
student-athlete’s, our second home is the Sports Complex at Marion Diehl
Park.
For us, that
second home feel usually comes as one of those love-hate kinds of things. There are the days where we get excited to
see that enormous lion when we pull up to the complex, although they may be few
and far between since game days are far outnumbered by work days.
Most of the time when us athletes
are at “the complex” it is to do something productive, whether it be lifting,
practicing, or the dreadful yet necessary morning treatment. But then again there are those times when the
event, although it could be argued as productive, just doesn’t seem as
such. For all you athletes out there you
know what I’m referring to, the four-hour compliance meetings and end of the
year banquets.
While I do love that most of my
time at the complex is productively spent, I hate that I have to be awake to do
some of those things before the sun even considers lighting the sky. Us lacrosse players dread seeing the lights
on the field when we have morning lifts, because there aren’t weights on the
field, just lines to run around. On
those days I have to try extra hard to convince myself that whatever it is we
are doing is ultimately bettering my teammates and I from the day before.
Since I am a student-athlete, you
could consider my situation relatively extreme compared to someone who has a
career in regards to time spent away from home, but I think we can all agree
that we’ve got our own home-away-from-home.
Before I became a student-athlete I always wanted to get away from home,
but now that I rarely get the opportunity to kick back and relax on my own
couch or get a real, full night of sleep, it’s the only place I want to be!
Jeremy Bugbee
I feel the exact same way. The only difference is that I don't play a sport that is over at the complex, but with us not having a gym for basketball we have to drive over to the complex to get treatment most of the time. The early morning ones are the worst, but that's the life of college athletes.
ReplyDeleteJeremy,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post! I can relate to wanting to go back home. However I can't relate to those early morning lifts and dreadful treatments you speak of. Coming from your view I can see why you would consider the complex to be a home. You spend a large amount of time there almost as if its your office. Keep up the good work and continue to post!
Thanks!
I am not a student athlete. I can relate. Everyone has that place where the majority of their time is spent. For me, being that I am a communications major, Dana 110 has become a second home for me. I am either learning or editing video. I also tend to live in my residence hall lobby. The sports complex is an impressive facility. I adore the granite counter tops in the bathrooms and the lion is always a welcoming delight. I am sure it is intimidating to our opponents though. I wish you much luck and hope you continue to enjoy your home.
ReplyDeleteWell way to touch on a subject that everyone is familiar with. I think you are right Jeremy, a home away from home is the perfect way to describe where most of us spend most of our time. It is a sometimes dreadful to think that the place we deem as home and make our haven to relax to is rarely used . But we all know that those moments when we actually do get the opportunity to relax at home it is so well worth the wait. It can seem like the most comfortable place in the world.
ReplyDeleteI definitely feel your pain. Last year I came in as a feshman except I had a broken ankle. That won't get you very far during the basketball season. I was at morning treatment everyday for almost 2 months straight. My home away from home is the Grady Cole center. There are days I love to walk in and see the floor shinging waiting for us to walk out, then there are very few other days where I don't feel that way.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. Waking up at 4:45 in the morning for practice is definitely one of the worst parts about playing but to be honest I think that is the only bad part... along with the compliance meetings. I love pulling up to the sportsplex and being able to walk in my locker room. Now that fall practices are over, it is hard to adjust back to NOT having something lacrosse related every day.
ReplyDelete