As student-athletes, we do not get much down time ... and by down time, I mean time not spent sleeping, eating, practicing, going to classes, or studying (not necessarily in that order). However, we grow used to our busy schedule, accustomed to it, and although we may not always admit it, we actually like our lack of free time to a certain level.
I am sure that many people have heard an athlete at one point or another say that they don't have enough time to themselves, that they never stop, or that they are exhausted. However, no athlete really understands how much they appreciate their insanely busy practice, conditioning, or lifting schedules until they get some real down time. The time that they claim to so desperately need.
Now, don't get me wrong, I agree that everybody needs time to rest. However, when a person is so used to constantly going without really stopping and they finally get a break, they often do not know what to do with themselves.
I remember one particular instance a while ago, before we began our season, we were given a few days off to relax. It was amazing at first; we got caught up on all of our schoolwork, napped for a few hours, and were even able to watch a couple of movies. The only problem was that after a shorter than expected period of time, we had absolutely no idea what to do with ourselves.
We sat on the futon in our dorm room without knowing what to do for a while. Then we found a deck of cards. Yes, we really did begin to play cards. We even tested out a few magic tricks.
We were so lost that we considered driving to Fargo for the evening just to eat at Olive Garden ... and kill a few hours.
We quickly realized that we were bored out of our minds with nothing to do.
In the end, we found ourselves walking to the Hyslop to practice.
