October 6, 2022 • 40 mins
On today's episode of Beyond the Megaphone with Cassidy and Nathan, the two take a look as some of the toughest things about being student athletes. Cassidy explains the expectation vs reality of student life as an athlete, before and after the pandemic. Nathan continues as he explains the transition to graduate school as a student athlete, as well as both of them sharing their funniest and craziest stories of this balancing act! Episode 4 will give you a look inside the everyday life of a student athlete and how much focus and determination it takes to excel!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Beyond the Megaphone is a production of I Heart Radio
and the College Athletes Network. Hey everybody, this is Nathan
and Cassidy. You are listening to Beyond the Megaphone on
the College Athletes Network. Please subscribe to the podcast that
(00:23):
you never miss a new episode. This can easily be
done via the I Heart Radio app. Also, you can
find me on Instagram and Twitter at our Nathan Paris
and you can find me on Instagram at casty with
a double y SERNI I feel like I need to
get Twitter. You should, I think I mean that way.
I don't know, I think you should. I feel like
(00:45):
casting tweeting is just like the opportunities there are endless.
That's so scary. I'd make my Twitter private. I just
like follow you on Twitter and just be like hey Nathan.
It's just yeah, it's just one follower, one following and
it's just me, hey, what's going on? And there like
(01:05):
d m s, but it's like goes to your feed
when I die. Make it public. Yeah. Um, Cassie, welcome
to episode four. Welcome to episode four. Episode You're doing okay, um,
pushing through yaw se going, it's going, it's going. It's going,
it's it's happening. Sure, I'm upright, So that's a win. UM.
(01:30):
So today we're gonna look at cheer and school. Okay,
what that means the balancing act that involves, um, all
the extra work and commitment that goes into trying to
balance being a student athlete. UM. I think the biggest
thing that we want to get across is that no
(01:51):
one expects perfection right now. This is kind of the
common thing that we've seen with the previous episode on
mental Health featuring me out Walker. If you haven't listened
to that, you should definitely listen to that. But shameless plug.
So I think that. But yeah, the biggest thing is
we just want to reiterate that since cheer is such
(02:13):
a perfectionist sport, no one is looking for a perfection,
you know, especially when you're getting into being a student athlete.
They just want your best. And that's what we're gonna
try and share with you guys to day and some
tips and tricks on how we are always working to
be the best versions of ourselves. UM. I think where
I want to start is kind of what life looks
(02:36):
like for those of you listening who haven't gotten to college.
Yet just in general what college life looks like without um,
you're collegiate cheerleading, right. So for me, obviously the first
two years I was in the band, right, so that
was more of a club. It wasn't a sport. There's
no n C delayed sanctions on marching band yet, probably
(03:00):
be that's okay, um, but um, yeah, So I think
the biggest thing is like time management is just so
important and starting out early with things that like, Okay,
I understand this, right, I don't understand this. I need
to get help with that right now, right, Like there's
no there's no waiting. You don't need to wait. You
don't have to feel uncomfortable or embarrassed about not understanding something,
(03:23):
because if you knew everything, you wouldn't be here, right.
That's the whole point of going to college, right, So
go ask help, Go ask for help, Go figure out
what you need to do, and do that early, um,
because it's much easier to do that early than try
and dig yourself out of a hole halfway through the semester.
Personal experience in the sentence that was not that was
(03:50):
not directed just that you. It happens to everybody. But
the biggest thing is um, just trying to do that
as early as possible so that you can come away
with progress not perfection. Um. But yeah, I think for me,
one of the hardest things was once I got to
college was how it's so much more responsibility. Like these
(04:11):
professors don't really care if you fail their class. They
care a little bit, right, I'm not gonna just say
that all professors, hope you know, are praying on people's downfalls,
but no one's gonna sit there over your shoulder and
make sure you do your homework right. Um. That might
not have happened for you, for for you in high school,
(04:31):
I know it did for me. Shout up, Mom and dad, UM,
appreciate you'll never giving me a break in the best way.
Uh no. But UM, so you know, once you get here,
you're on your own. You know, you have your friends,
you have your group, Um, but a lot of the
responsibility then shifts to you. And I think that that's
the biggest thing that you need to come to grips
(04:53):
with early, um and be okay with because that's, you know,
part of growing up. Um. I don't know when you
first got to college, what did you see, Because when
we joined the team, it was COVID. You're right, So
for the most part, we didn't have a ton of
responsibility for to er just because we couldn't really get together. So, like,
what did you see as a difference between your high
(05:14):
school workload versus your college workload? Um, A big difference
I saw was like, there's not gonna be anyone there
to punish you if you like do bad on something
or if you get like a bad grade or whatever
you turn in a sement, like, there's not gonna be
anyone there to really like be like, um, what's this
(05:38):
Because like in high school, my mom had access to
like my grades, so anything when any time I got
a bad grade or something like that, I always knew
there was going to be like a repercussion for that.
And then here I could mess up and like it's
up to me to make the change to do better.
And that was something that I definitely really struggled with
(06:02):
because I need that like type of structure. But then
it just kind of what, oh my gosh, I can't
speak never Um, I don't even remember saying yes. Um.
Like that was something that I really had to teach
(06:23):
myself how to implement on my own instead of getting
it from someone else, especially, I feel like at a
big ten school, you know, there's so much to do, UM,
and I love doing everything, and I think that it's
structure is a big part of college just in general.
(06:46):
And time management are like the key things that I
had to learn on my own in order for me
to be successful in school. I found routines really kind
of saved my UM career in a sense, because like
I knew that something had to change. Like when I
first got here, academically was not where I needed to be. UM.
(07:11):
I think I've probably failed three exams my first semester,
you know, just like you're so used to the way
life is in your first twelve years of education, where
it's like, oh yeah, I'll take thirty minutes the night
before to study for this exam and it'll be just
like study guide. I'll be fine. And then you get
here and you do that, and then you get you're like,
oh that didn't work. UM. So you know, I think
(07:33):
finding a routine that is now college equipped rather than
just high school was something big for me, and also
finding like, okay, here's my you know, two hours of
recreational time, right, but here's my four five hours of
work time throughout the day. Obviously I'm not gonna go
four hours straight, but you have those breaks, you have
(07:53):
those time for yourself to relax, um, and then just
trying to replicate that every day and then when you
find success, that how you know you're on the right track.
And then for me that was like boom, there was
my routine. I'm just gonna do that, you know. Um.
Along with this topic, since we're talking about just the
very vague details of college life, I think it's also
(08:18):
important because I feel like people who are listening to
this who are in high school are obviously probably thinking
about cheer. Um. So I think one thing that I
struggled with, like seeing the change of coming from high
school and like high school cheer and all that stuff
to college and cheer was like, I what I expected
(08:41):
was not at all what it turned out to be. Yeah,
not at all. Like I don't know, I honestly don't
even know what I expected. Like I really had no expectations.
Like I I was under the impression that, well, obviously
it's different for different programs, but I was under the
impression that, you know, like I'm gonna be doing school
(09:04):
and cheer and that's gonna be it. Like I thought
I wouldn't have like any time to do anything other
than school and cheer, and that would be like consuming
my whole life. But as we've had like a full
season and done pretty much at all. We've traveled, we've
done football, basketball, all that fun stuff. Um, I think
(09:29):
it's what I expected, was to just be super overwhelmed
with everything and not. I didn't think going into college
cheer and being in a student as well, that I
wouldn't have like as much time as I actually do. Okay, cool,
So you almost like overestimated which you'd have to get
(09:52):
done in a week. Yeah, I like didn't think i'd
really have well, never mind, I was gonna say, I
don't think. I didn't think i'd really have like any
friends or anything. I was like, my friends are made
to your team, do you have Oh? Okay, I say,
you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I thought I was
going to have, Like, well, well, that's a good point
(10:17):
because the thing is, like you would think that the
only time you get to see your teammates is at practice,
right or when you're practicing outside of your official like
a lot of time. Um, so that's a good point
because I think I definitely see you guys more, even
with grad school, still see you guys more outside of
(10:37):
practice and games that I do. Honestly, I feel like
we see each other more this year than we did
last year. Yeah. Now we're all like close, which is
super nice geographically. Um, but yeah, I mean I think
the three years that I've been a part of the
program is definitely more so seeing you guys just hanging out,
(10:59):
spending time other rather than stunting or practicing and things
like that, which I think is a good thing to
point out, is because like, yes, you're gonna be busy
at times. Yes, you're gonna have a lot of stuff
to do. Yes you're gonna probably have like just enough
time to get all your homework done in one day.
And then you're like, oh wait, I have a three
hour cheer practice as well tonight. How am I gonna
do this? Those things happen, right, The most important thing
(11:21):
is you do have time outside of those school in
cheer to hang out, have fun, be with friends inside
the program outside the program. Um yeah, yeah, I think
that's what I was trying to say. I don't know
why my words aren't working right, now, but I was
kind of reaching that point. It's fine. I was trying
(11:43):
to like get across that I thought I wouldn't have
like a social life, But in the end, it turns
out it's gonna be your social life. It's gonna be
social life. That's that's a good point. Yeah. I mean,
like you you think, like, oh my gosh, like all
I'm gonna do is like work, Na, Like that's that's
the beauty of cheer I think is because like at
practice that kind of is a social hour. Yes you're
(12:05):
working hard, Yes you're doing these things, you're taking it seriously,
but you're with like the best people in the world,
so it doesn't always feel like work, you know. Um, yeah,
that's a good point. Um. Let's talk a little bit
about undergrad versus grad school. Okay, just because now that
I'm officially old and officially in grad school, UM, we
(12:26):
can kind of you can kind of go back and
forth on all that. UM take him through, like what
you feel like undergrad looks like like your typical week.
Typical week for me, UM on Mondays, I typically wake
up around nine, I do some homework before my class, UM,
(12:49):
go to class, and then actually, funny we were talking
about social life. Me and my friend Maddie on the team.
UM have a class in the same building, So we
meet up after our eleven thirty and like, go get lunch,
talk a little bit. Then we both go to our
class at like one fun Fun, and then I go
to So I have another class at one fifty, and
(13:11):
then I have a three and then I'm done with
my classes for the day. Typically I will either stunt
or go see my friends. Either either one. I'll go
to like the cheer house and just sit there until
the cheer shout out to your house real quick, Okay,
keep going, Um, but yeah, that's a Monday. Tuesday's very
(13:36):
chill for me. I tried to do the bare minimum
on Tuesdays because we have practice on Tuesdays. So I
have an eight am fun uh bare minimum. I have
an eight am and then after that, I usually at
eleven will go work out. Um just a light will
(14:00):
work out, get us break a sweat, you know what
I'm saying, Yes, and then I will get lunch at
the stadium. Usually there will be a few of the
other people in the Truer team there, so I'll go
see them, get some lunch, and then I have um
P T at th so I do that, and then
(14:21):
after two thirty I get back to my room. At
like three, I relax. I listened to music. I will
like watch a show. I typically try to not do
any homework or any like really tough brain work on
me because I know I'm gonna need to get into
focus mode. And that's when I start to like be like, okay,
(14:41):
I practice soon. I need to like get my head
in the game. Come on, So I will start getting
ready for practice at like five thirty. Go to practice
in my day there, it's a great day. Wednesdays and
Fridays are typically the same as Mondays, and my Tuesdays
(15:02):
and Thursdays look alike sweet, awesome. So it sounds like
most of the time three pm, you're like all right,
at least for like an hour or so, I'm gonna
check out. Yes, I need to relax. I need some
me time. My brain stops working, yeah briefly for a second.
So we just need a second for myself. You need
(15:22):
um okay, grad school, it's not that different, I would say.
I think it's just like the volume of work is different. Now. Granted,
like I'm in an accelerated program. So this might be
different than the average like grad program. UM. Typical grad
programs are fifteen to twenty hours minus thirty four hours.
So it's like there's a little bit of difference there. UM.
(15:44):
But what is nice though, is going back to the
routines that we were talking about. I have a perfect
routine that is pretty much the same every day. UM.
So eight am every morning, UM, getting up, going to
class UM, and I'll have three classes a day UM
(16:05):
so from eight to about two UM, we're in lectures
UM hands on lecture style either one. UM. Getting a
degree in information systems requires some of the hands on,
more coding things like that. UM. But UM, same with you.
I think in the afternoon early evening every day, I'm
kind of like, okay, I'm checked out because yes, class
(16:28):
ends at too, but most of the time you're there
from about two to four or five every day to
work on group projects. UM. So what's nice is I'm
kind of treating it as like a nine to five,
except it's like an eight to five. But um, So
just thinking about trying to make every day as similar
as possible for me has been really relaxing because then
I know exactly like what's on my plate every day?
(16:50):
Um So, yeah instead of at three most days around
like five, I take that mental break, might take a nap,
might dawn another podcast, you know, might stunt UM. Haven't
been able to Stunted much this year, which is super sad,
but it's okay, UM, you know, I'm just happy to
be here for one extra year, right, um So. And
(17:11):
in Friday's UH, we are actually in a lecture from
eight am to five pm. Like those are the very
hands on days, so we're doing a lot of like
collaboration and things like that. So the biggest difference I
think going through undergrad and now UM a good portion
of the way through grad school is UM. It's just
the volume of work is UM slightly increased to grad school,
(17:36):
and that's just because of UM getting you in and
out in one or two years. UM. And it's also
much more like UM output oriented rather than like grades.
It's like, if you can give us a good quality
piece of work, I think you're gonna be okay. You
know that that's kind of more hard. It's more professional
sense rather than UM a's, b's and c's and things
(17:59):
like that, so that it definitely helps me because I've
always been so nervous about greates and things like that.
But um, yeah it's fun. It's busy, but um it's
worth it for sure. Well, I think with that, our
next thing we're going to talk about is, um some
interesting stories that we have dealing with school and it's amazing. Okay, sweet,
(18:23):
super fun, super great. Um. You're listening to the Beyond
the Megaphone podcast. I am Cassidy Serny and I'm Nathan
and this is a College Athletes Network. Welcome back to
(18:49):
Beyond the Megaphone on the College Athletes Network. I'm Nathan
and I'm Cassidy. Subscribe to our podcast that you never
miss another episode. Okay, so let's talk about some of
the craziest um balancing acts that we've gone through so
far in our wonderful cheerleading careers. Give us, like a
story where you've had to do just about every single
(19:12):
thing under the sun in a span of twenty four hours.
Um my, very like. The first thing that comes to
my mind is on our way to the Big Ten Tournament.
I don't remember which day it was. We went three
times because we won twice, right, I think we went twice? Yes,
(19:36):
we want twice because we're in the championship. So we
drove to and from Indy three consecutive days, and I'm
pretty sure it was the second time we went. I
had so much to do. I had so, so, so,
so much to do. I brought literally everything in my bag.
And You're like, we're we should keep our bags light
(19:59):
for that because we're like moving around a lot of places.
We don't have like a set spot that's like closed
off to put our bags. So I just had like
all of my essential things for school just out in
where we're Oh, my god, Banker's Life, Baker's Life. I
(20:20):
just said, actually there's a new name now, but I
don't remember. The name is Baker's Life. The Pacers Arena
in Indianapolis. I had everything laid out in the Pacers
Arena Banker's Life, and I was on the bus. There's
literally a picture of me sitting on the bus with
my iPad like looking at my different like organic chemistry questions. Um, oh,
(20:48):
that reminds me of m Was it organic as well?
In the locker room, we were like halfway through basketball season.
This is like right before Thanksgiving, very probably where you
coming from halftime and everybody's like, you know, recaping or
getting ready for the stuff. And I just see Castie
in the corner, just like bawled up, and she's just
like flipping through no cards and I'm like, hey, man, um,
(21:10):
we only have like eight minutes. She's like, yeah, I know,
but I gotta I gotta figure this test. Like I'm sorry, Yeah,
it's so funny. It's one of my favorite pictures. So funny.
I didn't know who that picture was taken until like
after the game, and the level of focus is just
like it looks like you're actually taking the ex in
that moment. So awesome. But yeah, I had I had
(21:34):
so it was around like midterms ish something like that.
I don't know. I had an exam in Spanish, I
had an upcoming quiz or exam in OReGO, and I
also had a CALC exam like in that same time span,
and it obviously was crunch time because I felt the
need to bring it to Big ten take your entire
(21:57):
everything right yeah, um, but on the bus right there,
I literally was like taking a Spanish exam like full
on on the bus. Dude. Actually, no, here's here's what happened.
I had to reschedule it because I was missing that
(22:18):
class for the tournament and I had to reschedule it.
So when literally I had we got back at like
a certain time. I had my exam. It in a
half hour on zoom. It was proper. Yeah. So I'm
like crunch time, hearts racing, palm sweating. I need to
get this done. So that's my main priority. I got
(22:38):
it done. Next priority, I have an upcoming Oorgle quiz. Yay,
so I'm doing my orgo thing. I also have CALC
Why did I do that to myself? Well? Yeah, so
for context, this tournament is like Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Literally it's like in the middle of the week and
it's like mid day. I think our first game at
(22:59):
the turn it was like two pm. Yeah yeah, so,
you know, definitely the highlight of balancing acts perfect example
of because March Madness is during spring break for the
most part, like unless you make I think it's after
the Sweet Sixteen is back during the semester, so well,
(23:21):
you know, probably get to experience that this year because
i U basketball is insane. But that's a whole different story. Um.
I think for me, the craziest was definitely this year
so far, um, because just there's just no stopping in
grad school. It's just boom boom boom boom um. So
(23:43):
I think the funniest one for me was I was
I woke up at six am on a Tuesday morning
because I had to take a quiz before it was
due at eight am, um and opens at seven am,
so you're like, actually supposed it before the morning session,
which is super fun um, So getting up. Then I
(24:05):
think we had one exam during a lecture um later
on that day, and then after that we had a
presentation do Wednesday, and I was doing at eight am. UM.
So I met with my team from two pm till
about five thirty on Tuesday, and we had just put
our finishing touches on the power Point slide deck. Everything
(24:26):
was looking good and I was like, all right, um,
this looks awesome. I'm gonna go ahead and yeah, so
I rushed out of Kelly Uh to my car and
I grab a Jimmy John sandwich on the way of course,
um and show up at practice in my business casual
(24:46):
around Oh. I actually remember, so I was like I
came over you and I was like, on Nathan, Yeah,
looks like looks like an athletic trainer there for a second. Um,
so yeah, and then Chan was there, had a nice
practice and then had another project do it at midnight
that night. So you know how the guys usually stay
(25:07):
back and play volleyball at practice. Yeah, I was like
busting it out of there running. Yeah, we we broke,
were like all I went to cream, okay, see you
and I was gone, Um, got that turned in about
eleven and then just like yeah, so and then I
just like dropped on my bed and was just like
(25:29):
and I was like, okay, let's do it all again tomorrow. Um.
But the most interesting was big Tent was tough. But
for me, my senior year was kind of coasting. I've
taken a lot of summer classes and got into a
good spot for senior year, so that was that wasn't
too bad. But um, this past weekend for the Cincinnati game, UM,
(25:52):
was pretty crazy, just because we have a about five
hours on the bus um to and from on a
set at our day and so you know, usually in
grad school you actually are working on the weekends. Pains
me to say, but you usually do get together and
so we get back at like one am after the
Cincinati game, and uh, get up the next day and
(26:15):
find my team and work for another nine hours. Um so,
And I think that brings me to a good point.
Is like, it is hard, it is not ideal, it's
not you know, this is not like my preferred um
level of like productivity. It's fun. Like I've I've literally
(26:35):
caught myself a couple of times running from one thing
to another just kind of smiling, like laughing at myself.
I'm like, this is ridiculous. But at the same time, yeah,
but at the same time, you're like, look at how
much I'm getting done, you know what I mean? Um,
and look how much I can really accomplish when time
management and my focus is like on high. So that's
(26:57):
been fun to kind of recognize and kind of improve
my productivity a little bit. You are listening to Beyond
the Megaphone. I'm Nathan and and this is the College
Athletes Network. Welcome back to Beyond the Megaphone on the
(27:24):
College Athletes Network. This is Nathan and this is Subscribe
to our podcast so you never miss another episode. Why
would you want to do that? Miss one of our episodes? Yeah? Okay,
So let's shift gears a little bit. Okay, let's talk
about some of the tips and tricks and um best
(27:46):
practices that we found UM success in and found ways
to get everything done in our twenty four hours a day.
You want me to start, you want to go first,
Go right ahead, Okay. So I think, and it's tough
because I'm now still in that kind of transition period
where I'm like, undergrad was one level of productivity. Grad
(28:10):
school is kind of at another. But it's it's really
the same, you know, and and I don't know, you know,
the percentage of people who will end up going on
beyond grad school. So I think speaking from a undergrad
perspective is just as just the same because at the
end of the day, you're learning styles. Your work ethic
is the same in any area of your life. UM. So,
(28:33):
I would say the biggest thing that I found was
mixed schedules and actually take them seriously. UM. My freshman year,
I remember like buying a nice calendar like leather Bound
was so dope, and I was like, I'm gonna use
this every day, and like on Monday, right exactly on Monday,
I'd write everything down for the whole week. And be like, boom,
this is perfect. By Tuesday. I had not looked at
(28:56):
that since I wrote it on Sunday night, and I
would look at it like Wednesday or Thursday, and I
was like, none of this happened when it was supposed
to happen, you know. So and it's it is learning,
you know, there's nothing. Um, it's just part of figuring
out how you want to navigate your day. But um, yeah,
I think making schedules has been super helpful for me,
(29:17):
specifically in grad school. What I've done is I've just
done day by day on a little legal pad. Um no,
you know, fill in here, fill in there. It's just
a blank sheet of paper. And I'm like, Okay, here's
what I gotta get done from nine to noon. It's
like I get done from noon to three. Um, I
know that I'm gonna have practice from six to nine.
(29:37):
So from you know, five to seven and then nine
to midnight. What do I need to get done and
make it realistic? Right? I'm not gonna say I'm gonna
finish one product project and two hours okay, and then
I'm gonna start and finish another project on our three
It's just not gonna happen, and that's okay. UM. Taken
one day to time has been super helpful. And I
(29:58):
even sometimes when I really need to, oh, how I'm
gonna structure it, I'll put individual hours like nine am,
here's what I need to do, eleven thirties what I
need to do. If I know I have an appointment
at write that in and then you have free fifteen minutes.
Usually it's like a break. Things like that. UM, which
leads me to my next UM tip and trick that
(30:19):
I've learned is give yourself brakes. You'll find time in
the day to get things that you need to get done.
It just it just happens. I don't know how many
times I've looked at my to do listen to me like,
there's no way I'm gonna get this done in the
next twelve hours. And I did. And it's okay. That's
not you know, that's not a pat on the back.
That's just saying you are so much more capable of
(30:42):
producing good content and getting things done. Then you realize
when you just sit down, put your phone away, put
all the distractions away. Never underestimate how much you can
get it done an hour. Yeah, Like I'll put my
phone on do not store, or I'll just throw it
onto my bed across the room and just sit on
my desk and I just start a timer on the
(31:03):
on the laptop, and I'm just like, Okay, what's gonna
get done in the next sixty minutes? And it's crazy.
You can finish like half your day if you just
get all your distractions away. UM. So I think that's
a if those are my three that I could give
would be make a schedule that works, that's realistic and
that you can actually follow. UM. Find time to give
(31:26):
yourself breaks. Maybe not hour and a half breaks, maybe
say that save that for your meals, um. Maybe not
super long breaks, but minutes whatever makes sense for you. UM.
And then just staying focused, you know, and making sure
that you know, by staying focused, it's gonna pay off
(31:49):
because you're not gonna spend three hours work on the
same stuff that you get done in an hour, you
know what about you? UM? For me, I honestly didn't
figure everything out until like this year. I freshman year COVID,
all my classes were online. I did not know what
an EYU classroom looks like. So I was able to
(32:10):
do things on my own schedule, watch my lectures whenever
I wanted to, wherever I wanted to. My exams were online,
homework was online, like I lived my life how I
wanted to. I took my one and a half hour breaks,
no shame. So sophomore year I thought I was like
superhuman or something. I in r A. I was on
(32:33):
like involved in cheer. Um. I was a neuroscience major Premed.
I was taking like the harder premed courses Like I
just thought I could do it all, and that for me,
I could not do it all. That list right there
just like made me slightly tired. That made me like
my heart drop again, like I'm scared. Um So I
(32:57):
went into my sophomore year think like super were confident,
thinking that I could just you know, do everything and
be able to balance everything as well as I could
when I literally had online classes like obviously that's not
gonna work. Um So, I had a really rough year
last year. I didn't I could not figure everything out,
and I wanted to do all of these things, and
(33:19):
I had all these goals and dreams. I still have
all these different goals and stuff, but they've shifted obviously.
Um and I don't think they necessarily shifted because I
couldn't do it, but more so I prioritize different things now.
Um and I learned how to, you know, manage my time.
(33:40):
If I wanted more time, I obviously couldn't take or
go to in physics right now like um and those
classes didn't interest me as I took them. I had
to learn the hard way that they didn't interest me,
but I learned. I I think a big thing to
know in this whole podcast is college is a huge
learning experience and you're gonna make me stakes and things
(34:01):
are not going to go out the way that you
want them to. And you know, my suffer you for
a bit, but it will get better and you'll figure
out what you figure out what classes you like and
who you like to hang out with in like what
you like to do and stuff like that. You'll find
your interests. But it took me a whole year to
figure that out. So yeah, let me add in just
I don't want to cut you off, but I think
(34:22):
that's such an important point about learning experience. When I
got to college, I had never ever even thought about
the concept of coding or working with computers, and starting college,
I was in the band. I had never thrown a
human up in the air before, and now I'm here
(34:42):
getting masters in computers and throwing people up over my
head for a living. So to say, it's a learning experience.
Every single path direction is completely and wonderfully different for everyone. Yes,
I think that's so a good point. Okay, continue um.
(35:02):
But now that I've got my life together, so slay
of me. This is so slave of me. Um. The
biggest thing that has helped me is I used this
website called notion um and you can like code different things.
I'm a coder to actually a coder. You can like
(35:26):
code it to make it unique to how you was
just a podcast with two nerds. Now that's what that is.
I think that's what it always was that UM. So,
I like, I have severe a d h D, which
also doesn't help with my concept of time and scheduling
and structure on all of that. Um, but I need
(35:48):
like ten thousand lists of like the exact same thing.
So my notion my front screen has like a list
of a daily what I need to do my classes,
so I have all my classes listed out, and then
what assignments are doing that week right directly Underneath that
a weekly schedule and it's everything I need to do
(36:10):
for the week, so that can be like school, um, cheer,
any games, anything like that, all just like in there
underneath that, I have what I like a list of
things for the next week that I like have upcoming
that I need to be keeping in the back of
my mind. And then I have like different pages for school,
So I have one for my UM all my classes.
(36:33):
I have like my notes in there, and my daily
like list of all my exams and everything in different
tabs whatever, like, I have another one for my duty
schedule for r A, and then I have another one
for what I need to do daily. So lists have
saved my whole entire life. Like I live by using Notion.
(36:55):
It's literally the only thing that has gotten me to
do every saying in a timely fashion, and I can
make it look pretty nice. So it's not sponsored, by
the way, but no, it should be. If anybody from Notion,
here's this. I love you. I love you. You literally
stayed my college life. That's awesome, I think, And that's
(37:20):
kind of like the last point I want to bring
up is just like we talked about a little bit before,
but just thinking about it again, is being a part
of college athletics. College here is a choice. UM. Now,
that doesn't mean you can't sympathize for yourself. That doesn't
mean you aren't going to have bad days. It doesn't
mean that you know, in some weird way you deserve
(37:44):
to have a tough day ahead or a tough you know,
four years ahead. We say it's a choice because, um,
not everybody wants to do it. Not everybody. It feels
like they have to do this. If it was easy,
I think everybody would do it, right. UM. So the
thing that is so important is that you should feel
(38:04):
proud of yourself. You should feel proud of taking the
extra time, taking the extra sacrifice to do the things
that you love. UM, and celebrate small and large victories
of your college life. UM as you get into it.
I know a lot of people listening are yet to
um have their college experience. But just live it. Just
(38:26):
go into it completely open minded, um and and see
where it takes you. Because if I went back and asked, UM,
eighteen year old Nathan, um, so where do you think
you're gonna end up by the end of your college career?
No chance I would have said anything about what I'm
(38:46):
doing right now. I literally wanted to do creative writing.
Really yeah, I wanted to be a journalist. What I'm
clinicals like call psychological sciences. Now there you go because
of it, Yeah, just to pay you back off of that.
(39:07):
I like one thing that sticks with me, like on
a day to day basis, especially when I'm just struggling
to get it all together, is just something that Julie says,
like this program is bigger than herself and it's a
privilege to do this. It's not, you know, we're not
here just because we have to be. It's a privilege,
like we get the chance to be able to have
(39:30):
this experience. And it's hard and there's gonna be some
hard times, but I wouldn't change anything. Even after that
horrible year, Like I it was a bad year in
some places, but I also learned a lot about myself.
I learned a lot about what I like want to
(39:52):
do in life. I learned a lot about cheer, Like
I got to do so many different things even though
there were few hard to ms here and there. And
that's college. That's college. That's so college. It's so college,
so college, it's so college crazy it's crazy lit movie
(40:16):
oh Man. Well, as always, thanks so much for listening.
To be on the Megaphone on the College Athletes Network,
Please subscribe you never miss an episode. We would really
appreciate it. Um I'm Nathan and I'm Cassidy and we'll
talk to you soon. Beyond the Megaphone has been a
presentation of I Heart Radio and the College Athletes Network.
Beyond the Megaphone is a production of I Heart Radio
and the College Athletes Network. Hey everybody, this is Nathan
and Cassidy. You are listening to Beyond the Megaphone on
the College Athletes Network. Please subscribe to the podcast that
(00:23):
you never miss a new episode. This can easily be
done via the I Heart Radio app. Also, you can
find me on Instagram and Twitter at our Nathan Paris
and you can find me on Instagram at casty with
a double y SERNI I feel like I need to
get Twitter. You should, I think I mean that way.
I don't know, I think you should. I feel like
(00:45):
casting tweeting is just like the opportunities there are endless.
That's so scary. I'd make my Twitter private. I just
like follow you on Twitter and just be like hey Nathan.
It's just yeah, it's just one follower, one following and
it's just me, hey, what's going on? And there like
(01:05):
d m s, but it's like goes to your feed
when I die. Make it public. Yeah. Um, Cassie, welcome
to episode four. Welcome to episode four. Episode You're doing okay, um,
pushing through yaw se going, it's going, it's going. It's going,
it's it's happening. Sure, I'm upright, So that's a win. UM.
(01:30):
So today we're gonna look at cheer and school. Okay,
what that means the balancing act that involves, um, all
the extra work and commitment that goes into trying to
balance being a student athlete. UM. I think the biggest
thing that we want to get across is that no
(01:51):
one expects perfection right now. This is kind of the
common thing that we've seen with the previous episode on
mental Health featuring me out Walker. If you haven't listened
to that, you should definitely listen to that. But shameless plug.
So I think that. But yeah, the biggest thing is
we just want to reiterate that since cheer is such
(02:13):
a perfectionist sport, no one is looking for a perfection,
you know, especially when you're getting into being a student athlete.
They just want your best. And that's what we're gonna
try and share with you guys to day and some
tips and tricks on how we are always working to
be the best versions of ourselves. UM. I think where
I want to start is kind of what life looks
(02:36):
like for those of you listening who haven't gotten to college.
Yet just in general what college life looks like without um,
you're collegiate cheerleading, right. So for me, obviously the first
two years I was in the band, right, so that
was more of a club. It wasn't a sport. There's
no n C delayed sanctions on marching band yet, probably
(03:00):
be that's okay, um, but um, yeah, So I think
the biggest thing is like time management is just so
important and starting out early with things that like, Okay,
I understand this, right, I don't understand this. I need
to get help with that right now, right, Like there's
no there's no waiting. You don't need to wait. You
don't have to feel uncomfortable or embarrassed about not understanding something,
(03:23):
because if you knew everything, you wouldn't be here, right.
That's the whole point of going to college, right, So
go ask help, Go ask for help, Go figure out
what you need to do, and do that early, um,
because it's much easier to do that early than try
and dig yourself out of a hole halfway through the semester.
Personal experience in the sentence that was not that was
(03:50):
not directed just that you. It happens to everybody. But
the biggest thing is um, just trying to do that
as early as possible so that you can come away
with progress not perfection. Um. But yeah, I think for me,
one of the hardest things was once I got to
college was how it's so much more responsibility. Like these
(04:11):
professors don't really care if you fail their class. They
care a little bit, right, I'm not gonna just say
that all professors, hope you know, are praying on people's downfalls,
but no one's gonna sit there over your shoulder and
make sure you do your homework right. Um. That might
not have happened for you, for for you in high school,
(04:31):
I know it did for me. Shout up, Mom and dad, UM,
appreciate you'll never giving me a break in the best way.
Uh no. But UM, so you know, once you get here,
you're on your own. You know, you have your friends,
you have your group, Um, but a lot of the
responsibility then shifts to you. And I think that that's
the biggest thing that you need to come to grips
(04:53):
with early, um and be okay with because that's, you know,
part of growing up. Um. I don't know when you
first got to college, what did you see, Because when
we joined the team, it was COVID. You're right, So
for the most part, we didn't have a ton of
responsibility for to er just because we couldn't really get together. So, like,
what did you see as a difference between your high
(05:14):
school workload versus your college workload? Um, A big difference
I saw was like, there's not gonna be anyone there
to punish you if you like do bad on something
or if you get like a bad grade or whatever
you turn in a sement, like, there's not gonna be
anyone there to really like be like, um, what's this
(05:38):
Because like in high school, my mom had access to
like my grades, so anything when any time I got
a bad grade or something like that, I always knew
there was going to be like a repercussion for that.
And then here I could mess up and like it's
up to me to make the change to do better.
And that was something that I definitely really struggled with
(06:02):
because I need that like type of structure. But then
it just kind of what, oh my gosh, I can't
speak never Um, I don't even remember saying yes. Um.
Like that was something that I really had to teach
(06:23):
myself how to implement on my own instead of getting
it from someone else, especially, I feel like at a
big ten school, you know, there's so much to do, UM,
and I love doing everything, and I think that it's
structure is a big part of college just in general.
(06:46):
And time management are like the key things that I
had to learn on my own in order for me
to be successful in school. I found routines really kind
of saved my UM career in a sense, because like
I knew that something had to change. Like when I
first got here, academically was not where I needed to be. UM.
(07:11):
I think I've probably failed three exams my first semester,
you know, just like you're so used to the way
life is in your first twelve years of education, where
it's like, oh yeah, I'll take thirty minutes the night
before to study for this exam and it'll be just
like study guide. I'll be fine. And then you get
here and you do that, and then you get you're like,
oh that didn't work. UM. So you know, I think
(07:33):
finding a routine that is now college equipped rather than
just high school was something big for me, and also
finding like, okay, here's my you know, two hours of
recreational time, right, but here's my four five hours of
work time throughout the day. Obviously I'm not gonna go
four hours straight, but you have those breaks, you have
(07:53):
those time for yourself to relax, um, and then just
trying to replicate that every day and then when you
find success, that how you know you're on the right track.
And then for me that was like boom, there was
my routine. I'm just gonna do that, you know. Um.
Along with this topic, since we're talking about just the
very vague details of college life, I think it's also
(08:18):
important because I feel like people who are listening to
this who are in high school are obviously probably thinking
about cheer. Um. So I think one thing that I
struggled with, like seeing the change of coming from high
school and like high school cheer and all that stuff
to college and cheer was like, I what I expected
(08:41):
was not at all what it turned out to be. Yeah,
not at all. Like I don't know, I honestly don't
even know what I expected. Like I really had no expectations.
Like I I was under the impression that, well, obviously
it's different for different programs, but I was under the
impression that, you know, like I'm gonna be doing school
(09:04):
and cheer and that's gonna be it. Like I thought
I wouldn't have like any time to do anything other
than school and cheer, and that would be like consuming
my whole life. But as we've had like a full
season and done pretty much at all. We've traveled, we've
done football, basketball, all that fun stuff. Um, I think
(09:29):
it's what I expected, was to just be super overwhelmed
with everything and not. I didn't think going into college
cheer and being in a student as well, that I
wouldn't have like as much time as I actually do. Okay, cool,
So you almost like overestimated which you'd have to get
(09:52):
done in a week. Yeah, I like didn't think i'd
really have well, never mind, I was gonna say, I
don't think. I didn't think i'd really have like any
friends or anything. I was like, my friends are made
to your team, do you have Oh? Okay, I say,
you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I thought I was
going to have, Like, well, well, that's a good point
(10:17):
because the thing is, like you would think that the
only time you get to see your teammates is at practice,
right or when you're practicing outside of your official like
a lot of time. Um, so that's a good point
because I think I definitely see you guys more, even
with grad school, still see you guys more outside of
(10:37):
practice and games that I do. Honestly, I feel like
we see each other more this year than we did
last year. Yeah. Now we're all like close, which is
super nice geographically. Um, but yeah, I mean I think
the three years that I've been a part of the
program is definitely more so seeing you guys just hanging out,
(10:59):
spending time other rather than stunting or practicing and things
like that, which I think is a good thing to
point out, is because like, yes, you're gonna be busy
at times. Yes, you're gonna have a lot of stuff
to do. Yes you're gonna probably have like just enough
time to get all your homework done in one day.
And then you're like, oh wait, I have a three
hour cheer practice as well tonight. How am I gonna
do this? Those things happen, right, The most important thing
(11:21):
is you do have time outside of those school in
cheer to hang out, have fun, be with friends inside
the program outside the program. Um yeah, yeah, I think
that's what I was trying to say. I don't know
why my words aren't working right, now, but I was
kind of reaching that point. It's fine. I was trying
(11:43):
to like get across that I thought I wouldn't have
like a social life, But in the end, it turns
out it's gonna be your social life. It's gonna be
social life. That's that's a good point. Yeah. I mean,
like you you think, like, oh my gosh, like all
I'm gonna do is like work, Na, Like that's that's
the beauty of cheer I think is because like at
practice that kind of is a social hour. Yes you're
(12:05):
working hard, Yes you're doing these things, you're taking it seriously,
but you're with like the best people in the world,
so it doesn't always feel like work, you know. Um, yeah,
that's a good point. Um. Let's talk a little bit
about undergrad versus grad school. Okay, just because now that
I'm officially old and officially in grad school, UM, we
(12:26):
can kind of you can kind of go back and
forth on all that. UM take him through, like what
you feel like undergrad looks like like your typical week.
Typical week for me, UM on Mondays, I typically wake
up around nine, I do some homework before my class, UM,
(12:49):
go to class, and then actually, funny we were talking
about social life. Me and my friend Maddie on the team.
UM have a class in the same building, So we
meet up after our eleven thirty and like, go get lunch,
talk a little bit. Then we both go to our
class at like one fun Fun, and then I go
to So I have another class at one fifty, and
(13:11):
then I have a three and then I'm done with
my classes for the day. Typically I will either stunt
or go see my friends. Either either one. I'll go
to like the cheer house and just sit there until
the cheer shout out to your house real quick, Okay,
keep going, Um, but yeah, that's a Monday. Tuesday's very
(13:36):
chill for me. I tried to do the bare minimum
on Tuesdays because we have practice on Tuesdays. So I
have an eight am fun uh bare minimum. I have
an eight am and then after that, I usually at
eleven will go work out. Um just a light will
(14:00):
work out, get us break a sweat, you know what
I'm saying, Yes, and then I will get lunch at
the stadium. Usually there will be a few of the
other people in the Truer team there, so I'll go
see them, get some lunch, and then I have um
P T at th so I do that, and then
(14:21):
after two thirty I get back to my room. At
like three, I relax. I listened to music. I will
like watch a show. I typically try to not do
any homework or any like really tough brain work on
me because I know I'm gonna need to get into
focus mode. And that's when I start to like be like, okay,
(14:41):
I practice soon. I need to like get my head
in the game. Come on, So I will start getting
ready for practice at like five thirty. Go to practice
in my day there, it's a great day. Wednesdays and
Fridays are typically the same as Mondays, and my Tuesdays
(15:02):
and Thursdays look alike sweet, awesome. So it sounds like
most of the time three pm, you're like all right,
at least for like an hour or so, I'm gonna
check out. Yes, I need to relax. I need some
me time. My brain stops working, yeah briefly for a second.
So we just need a second for myself. You need
(15:22):
um okay, grad school, it's not that different, I would say.
I think it's just like the volume of work is different. Now. Granted,
like I'm in an accelerated program. So this might be
different than the average like grad program. UM. Typical grad
programs are fifteen to twenty hours minus thirty four hours.
So it's like there's a little bit of difference there. UM.
(15:44):
But what is nice though, is going back to the
routines that we were talking about. I have a perfect
routine that is pretty much the same every day. UM.
So eight am every morning, UM, getting up, going to
class UM, and I'll have three classes a day UM
(16:05):
so from eight to about two UM, we're in lectures
UM hands on lecture style either one. UM. Getting a
degree in information systems requires some of the hands on,
more coding things like that. UM. But UM, same with you.
I think in the afternoon early evening every day, I'm
kind of like, okay, I'm checked out because yes, class
(16:28):
ends at too, but most of the time you're there
from about two to four or five every day to
work on group projects. UM. So what's nice is I'm
kind of treating it as like a nine to five,
except it's like an eight to five. But um, So
just thinking about trying to make every day as similar
as possible for me has been really relaxing because then
I know exactly like what's on my plate every day?
(16:50):
Um So, yeah instead of at three most days around
like five, I take that mental break, might take a nap,
might dawn another podcast, you know, might stunt UM. Haven't
been able to Stunted much this year, which is super sad,
but it's okay, UM, you know, I'm just happy to
be here for one extra year, right, um So. And
(17:11):
in Friday's UH, we are actually in a lecture from
eight am to five pm. Like those are the very
hands on days, so we're doing a lot of like
collaboration and things like that. So the biggest difference I
think going through undergrad and now UM a good portion
of the way through grad school is UM. It's just
the volume of work is UM slightly increased to grad school,
(17:36):
and that's just because of UM getting you in and
out in one or two years. UM. And it's also
much more like UM output oriented rather than like grades.
It's like, if you can give us a good quality
piece of work, I think you're gonna be okay. You
know that that's kind of more hard. It's more professional
sense rather than UM a's, b's and c's and things
(17:59):
like that, so that it definitely helps me because I've
always been so nervous about greates and things like that.
But um, yeah it's fun. It's busy, but um it's
worth it for sure. Well, I think with that, our
next thing we're going to talk about is, um some
interesting stories that we have dealing with school and it's amazing. Okay, sweet,
(18:23):
super fun, super great. Um. You're listening to the Beyond
the Megaphone podcast. I am Cassidy Serny and I'm Nathan
and this is a College Athletes Network. Welcome back to
(18:49):
Beyond the Megaphone on the College Athletes Network. I'm Nathan
and I'm Cassidy. Subscribe to our podcast that you never
miss another episode. Okay, so let's talk about some of
the craziest um balancing acts that we've gone through so
far in our wonderful cheerleading careers. Give us, like a
story where you've had to do just about every single
(19:12):
thing under the sun in a span of twenty four hours.
Um my, very like. The first thing that comes to
my mind is on our way to the Big Ten Tournament.
I don't remember which day it was. We went three
times because we won twice, right, I think we went twice? Yes,
(19:36):
we want twice because we're in the championship. So we
drove to and from Indy three consecutive days, and I'm
pretty sure it was the second time we went. I
had so much to do. I had so, so, so,
so much to do. I brought literally everything in my bag.
And You're like, we're we should keep our bags light
(19:59):
for that because we're like moving around a lot of places.
We don't have like a set spot that's like closed
off to put our bags. So I just had like
all of my essential things for school just out in
where we're Oh, my god, Banker's Life, Baker's Life. I
(20:20):
just said, actually there's a new name now, but I
don't remember. The name is Baker's Life. The Pacers Arena
in Indianapolis. I had everything laid out in the Pacers
Arena Banker's Life, and I was on the bus. There's
literally a picture of me sitting on the bus with
my iPad like looking at my different like organic chemistry questions. Um, oh,
(20:48):
that reminds me of m Was it organic as well?
In the locker room, we were like halfway through basketball season.
This is like right before Thanksgiving, very probably where you
coming from halftime and everybody's like, you know, recaping or
getting ready for the stuff. And I just see Castie
in the corner, just like bawled up, and she's just
like flipping through no cards and I'm like, hey, man, um,
(21:10):
we only have like eight minutes. She's like, yeah, I know,
but I gotta I gotta figure this test. Like I'm sorry, Yeah,
it's so funny. It's one of my favorite pictures. So funny.
I didn't know who that picture was taken until like
after the game, and the level of focus is just
like it looks like you're actually taking the ex in
that moment. So awesome. But yeah, I had I had
(21:34):
so it was around like midterms ish something like that.
I don't know. I had an exam in Spanish, I
had an upcoming quiz or exam in OReGO, and I
also had a CALC exam like in that same time span,
and it obviously was crunch time because I felt the
need to bring it to Big ten take your entire
(21:57):
everything right yeah, um, but on the bus right there,
I literally was like taking a Spanish exam like full
on on the bus. Dude. Actually, no, here's here's what happened.
I had to reschedule it because I was missing that
(22:18):
class for the tournament and I had to reschedule it.
So when literally I had we got back at like
a certain time. I had my exam. It in a
half hour on zoom. It was proper. Yeah. So I'm
like crunch time, hearts racing, palm sweating. I need to
get this done. So that's my main priority. I got
(22:38):
it done. Next priority, I have an upcoming Oorgle quiz. Yay,
so I'm doing my orgo thing. I also have CALC
Why did I do that to myself? Well? Yeah, so
for context, this tournament is like Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Literally it's like in the middle of the week and
it's like mid day. I think our first game at
(22:59):
the turn it was like two pm. Yeah yeah, so,
you know, definitely the highlight of balancing acts perfect example
of because March Madness is during spring break for the
most part, like unless you make I think it's after
the Sweet Sixteen is back during the semester, so well,
(23:21):
you know, probably get to experience that this year because
i U basketball is insane. But that's a whole different story. Um.
I think for me, the craziest was definitely this year
so far, um, because just there's just no stopping in
grad school. It's just boom boom boom boom um. So
(23:43):
I think the funniest one for me was I was
I woke up at six am on a Tuesday morning
because I had to take a quiz before it was
due at eight am, um and opens at seven am,
so you're like, actually supposed it before the morning session,
which is super fun um, So getting up. Then I
(24:05):
think we had one exam during a lecture um later
on that day, and then after that we had a
presentation do Wednesday, and I was doing at eight am. UM.
So I met with my team from two pm till
about five thirty on Tuesday, and we had just put
our finishing touches on the power Point slide deck. Everything
(24:26):
was looking good and I was like, all right, um,
this looks awesome. I'm gonna go ahead and yeah, so
I rushed out of Kelly Uh to my car and
I grab a Jimmy John sandwich on the way of course,
um and show up at practice in my business casual
(24:46):
around Oh. I actually remember, so I was like I
came over you and I was like, on Nathan, Yeah,
looks like looks like an athletic trainer there for a second. Um,
so yeah, and then Chan was there, had a nice
practice and then had another project do it at midnight
that night. So you know how the guys usually stay
(25:07):
back and play volleyball at practice. Yeah, I was like
busting it out of there running. Yeah, we we broke,
were like all I went to cream, okay, see you
and I was gone, Um, got that turned in about
eleven and then just like yeah, so and then I
just like dropped on my bed and was just like
(25:29):
and I was like, okay, let's do it all again tomorrow. Um.
But the most interesting was big Tent was tough. But
for me, my senior year was kind of coasting. I've
taken a lot of summer classes and got into a
good spot for senior year, so that was that wasn't
too bad. But um, this past weekend for the Cincinnati game, UM,
(25:52):
was pretty crazy, just because we have a about five
hours on the bus um to and from on a
set at our day and so you know, usually in
grad school you actually are working on the weekends. Pains
me to say, but you usually do get together and
so we get back at like one am after the
Cincinati game, and uh, get up the next day and
(26:15):
find my team and work for another nine hours. Um so,
And I think that brings me to a good point.
Is like, it is hard, it is not ideal, it's
not you know, this is not like my preferred um
level of like productivity. It's fun. Like I've I've literally
(26:35):
caught myself a couple of times running from one thing
to another just kind of smiling, like laughing at myself.
I'm like, this is ridiculous. But at the same time, yeah,
but at the same time, you're like, look at how
much I'm getting done, you know what I mean? Um,
and look how much I can really accomplish when time
management and my focus is like on high. So that's
(26:57):
been fun to kind of recognize and kind of improve
my productivity a little bit. You are listening to Beyond
the Megaphone. I'm Nathan and and this is the College
Athletes Network. Welcome back to Beyond the Megaphone on the
(27:24):
College Athletes Network. This is Nathan and this is Subscribe
to our podcast so you never miss another episode. Why
would you want to do that? Miss one of our episodes? Yeah? Okay,
So let's shift gears a little bit. Okay, let's talk
about some of the tips and tricks and um best
(27:46):
practices that we found UM success in and found ways
to get everything done in our twenty four hours a day.
You want me to start, you want to go first,
Go right ahead, Okay. So I think, and it's tough
because I'm now still in that kind of transition period
where I'm like, undergrad was one level of productivity. Grad
(28:10):
school is kind of at another. But it's it's really
the same, you know, and and I don't know, you know,
the percentage of people who will end up going on
beyond grad school. So I think speaking from a undergrad
perspective is just as just the same because at the
end of the day, you're learning styles. Your work ethic
is the same in any area of your life. UM. So,
(28:33):
I would say the biggest thing that I found was
mixed schedules and actually take them seriously. UM. My freshman year,
I remember like buying a nice calendar like leather Bound
was so dope, and I was like, I'm gonna use
this every day, and like on Monday, right exactly on Monday,
I'd write everything down for the whole week. And be like, boom,
this is perfect. By Tuesday. I had not looked at
(28:56):
that since I wrote it on Sunday night, and I
would look at it like Wednesday or Thursday, and I
was like, none of this happened when it was supposed
to happen, you know. So and it's it is learning,
you know, there's nothing. Um, it's just part of figuring
out how you want to navigate your day. But um, yeah,
I think making schedules has been super helpful for me,
(29:17):
specifically in grad school. What I've done is I've just
done day by day on a little legal pad. Um no,
you know, fill in here, fill in there. It's just
a blank sheet of paper. And I'm like, Okay, here's
what I gotta get done from nine to noon. It's
like I get done from noon to three. Um, I
know that I'm gonna have practice from six to nine.
(29:37):
So from you know, five to seven and then nine
to midnight. What do I need to get done and
make it realistic? Right? I'm not gonna say I'm gonna
finish one product project and two hours okay, and then
I'm gonna start and finish another project on our three
It's just not gonna happen, and that's okay. UM. Taken
one day to time has been super helpful. And I
(29:58):
even sometimes when I really need to, oh, how I'm
gonna structure it, I'll put individual hours like nine am,
here's what I need to do, eleven thirties what I
need to do. If I know I have an appointment
at write that in and then you have free fifteen minutes.
Usually it's like a break. Things like that. UM, which
leads me to my next UM tip and trick that
(30:19):
I've learned is give yourself brakes. You'll find time in
the day to get things that you need to get done.
It just it just happens. I don't know how many
times I've looked at my to do listen to me like,
there's no way I'm gonna get this done in the
next twelve hours. And I did. And it's okay. That's
not you know, that's not a pat on the back.
That's just saying you are so much more capable of
(30:42):
producing good content and getting things done. Then you realize
when you just sit down, put your phone away, put
all the distractions away. Never underestimate how much you can
get it done an hour. Yeah, Like I'll put my
phone on do not store, or I'll just throw it
onto my bed across the room and just sit on
my desk and I just start a timer on the
(31:03):
on the laptop, and I'm just like, Okay, what's gonna
get done in the next sixty minutes? And it's crazy.
You can finish like half your day if you just
get all your distractions away. UM. So I think that's
a if those are my three that I could give
would be make a schedule that works, that's realistic and
that you can actually follow. UM. Find time to give
(31:26):
yourself breaks. Maybe not hour and a half breaks, maybe
say that save that for your meals, um. Maybe not
super long breaks, but minutes whatever makes sense for you. UM.
And then just staying focused, you know, and making sure
that you know, by staying focused, it's gonna pay off
(31:49):
because you're not gonna spend three hours work on the
same stuff that you get done in an hour, you
know what about you? UM? For me, I honestly didn't
figure everything out until like this year. I freshman year COVID,
all my classes were online. I did not know what
an EYU classroom looks like. So I was able to
(32:10):
do things on my own schedule, watch my lectures whenever
I wanted to, wherever I wanted to. My exams were online,
homework was online, like I lived my life how I
wanted to. I took my one and a half hour breaks,
no shame. So sophomore year I thought I was like
superhuman or something. I in r A. I was on
(32:33):
like involved in cheer. Um. I was a neuroscience major Premed.
I was taking like the harder premed courses Like I
just thought I could do it all, and that for me,
I could not do it all. That list right there
just like made me slightly tired. That made me like
my heart drop again, like I'm scared. Um So I
(32:57):
went into my sophomore year think like super were confident,
thinking that I could just you know, do everything and
be able to balance everything as well as I could
when I literally had online classes like obviously that's not
gonna work. Um So, I had a really rough year
last year. I didn't I could not figure everything out,
and I wanted to do all of these things, and
(33:19):
I had all these goals and dreams. I still have
all these different goals and stuff, but they've shifted obviously.
Um and I don't think they necessarily shifted because I
couldn't do it, but more so I prioritize different things now.
Um and I learned how to, you know, manage my time.
(33:40):
If I wanted more time, I obviously couldn't take or
go to in physics right now like um and those
classes didn't interest me as I took them. I had
to learn the hard way that they didn't interest me,
but I learned. I I think a big thing to
know in this whole podcast is college is a huge
learning experience and you're gonna make me stakes and things
(34:01):
are not going to go out the way that you
want them to. And you know, my suffer you for
a bit, but it will get better and you'll figure
out what you figure out what classes you like and
who you like to hang out with in like what
you like to do and stuff like that. You'll find
your interests. But it took me a whole year to
figure that out. So yeah, let me add in just
I don't want to cut you off, but I think
(34:22):
that's such an important point about learning experience. When I
got to college, I had never ever even thought about
the concept of coding or working with computers, and starting college,
I was in the band. I had never thrown a
human up in the air before, and now I'm here
(34:42):
getting masters in computers and throwing people up over my
head for a living. So to say, it's a learning experience.
Every single path direction is completely and wonderfully different for everyone. Yes,
I think that's so a good point. Okay, continue um.
(35:02):
But now that I've got my life together, so slay
of me. This is so slave of me. Um. The
biggest thing that has helped me is I used this
website called notion um and you can like code different things.
I'm a coder to actually a coder. You can like
(35:26):
code it to make it unique to how you was
just a podcast with two nerds. Now that's what that is.
I think that's what it always was that UM. So,
I like, I have severe a d h D, which
also doesn't help with my concept of time and scheduling
and structure on all of that. Um, but I need
(35:48):
like ten thousand lists of like the exact same thing.
So my notion my front screen has like a list
of a daily what I need to do my classes,
so I have all my classes listed out, and then
what assignments are doing that week right directly Underneath that
a weekly schedule and it's everything I need to do
(36:10):
for the week, so that can be like school, um, cheer,
any games, anything like that, all just like in there
underneath that, I have what I like a list of
things for the next week that I like have upcoming
that I need to be keeping in the back of
my mind. And then I have like different pages for school,
So I have one for my UM all my classes.
(36:33):
I have like my notes in there, and my daily
like list of all my exams and everything in different
tabs whatever, like, I have another one for my duty
schedule for r A, and then I have another one
for what I need to do daily. So lists have
saved my whole entire life. Like I live by using Notion.
(36:55):
It's literally the only thing that has gotten me to
do every saying in a timely fashion, and I can
make it look pretty nice. So it's not sponsored, by
the way, but no, it should be. If anybody from Notion,
here's this. I love you. I love you. You literally
stayed my college life. That's awesome, I think, And that's
(37:20):
kind of like the last point I want to bring
up is just like we talked about a little bit before,
but just thinking about it again, is being a part
of college athletics. College here is a choice. UM. Now,
that doesn't mean you can't sympathize for yourself. That doesn't
mean you aren't going to have bad days. It doesn't
mean that you know, in some weird way you deserve
(37:44):
to have a tough day ahead or a tough you know,
four years ahead. We say it's a choice because, um,
not everybody wants to do it. Not everybody. It feels
like they have to do this. If it was easy,
I think everybody would do it, right. UM. So the
thing that is so important is that you should feel
(38:04):
proud of yourself. You should feel proud of taking the
extra time, taking the extra sacrifice to do the things
that you love. UM, and celebrate small and large victories
of your college life. UM as you get into it.
I know a lot of people listening are yet to
um have their college experience. But just live it. Just
(38:26):
go into it completely open minded, um and and see
where it takes you. Because if I went back and asked, UM,
eighteen year old Nathan, um, so where do you think
you're gonna end up by the end of your college career?
No chance I would have said anything about what I'm
(38:46):
doing right now. I literally wanted to do creative writing.
Really yeah, I wanted to be a journalist. What I'm
clinicals like call psychological sciences. Now there you go because
of it, Yeah, just to pay you back off of that.
(39:07):
I like one thing that sticks with me, like on
a day to day basis, especially when I'm just struggling
to get it all together, is just something that Julie says,
like this program is bigger than herself and it's a
privilege to do this. It's not, you know, we're not
here just because we have to be. It's a privilege,
like we get the chance to be able to have
(39:30):
this experience. And it's hard and there's gonna be some
hard times, but I wouldn't change anything. Even after that
horrible year, Like I it was a bad year in
some places, but I also learned a lot about myself.
I learned a lot about what I like want to
(39:52):
do in life. I learned a lot about cheer, Like
I got to do so many different things even though
there were few hard to ms here and there. And
that's college. That's college. That's so college. It's so college,
so college, it's so college crazy it's crazy lit movie
(40:16):
oh Man. Well, as always, thanks so much for listening.
To be on the Megaphone on the College Athletes Network,
Please subscribe you never miss an episode. We would really
appreciate it. Um I'm Nathan and I'm Cassidy and we'll
talk to you soon. Beyond the Megaphone has been a
presentation of I Heart Radio and the College Athletes Network.
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