Life as a Student Athlete

When it comes to schooling, first thing that strikes into students or parents' minds is 'concentrate in studies and score well in exam'. As a result, students tend to miss out lots of fun which may make their study life even more interesting.

Students or even parents deemed that involving actively in school activities will affect studies and exam results. BUT, I personally do not agree with this. It is a great mistake to have such thought. Indeed, staying in front of academic books all day long does not seem to make you score higher in exam as well. Students need a balance life.

High school or college life can be challenging and meaningful simultaneously. In fact, life as a student athlete can be very overwhelming and fun. Undeniably, it would be a great experience as a student athlete and make your schooling life even more amazing.

There are so many good and tough things for being a student athlete. You need to train almost every day. You need care of your food intake. You need to have enough of sleep and rest. You need to take good care of your body. At the meanwhile, you need to catch up with your studies. You need to deal with homework. You need to attend tuition. It isn't easy after all, yet it is pretty exciting and challenging.

I personally feel that it's a process of learning your own personal balance between your sports, studies and social life. And I truly believe these 3 can exist at the same time. Indeed, it did.

You require to know your own limit. You require to plan your time. You require to run your tasks based on their priority. You need to be independent. You need to know what your are doing. You need to handle stress. You need to learn how to chill yourselves. You need to learn how to let go certain thing. You need to sacrifice when it is needed. You need to work your best out of everything. You need to be determined. You need to be confident. You need to keep the passion going on.

Training is a must to attend in order to improve yourselves. Hard work is a need to make you a greater runner. At least 4-5 days of training every week. Saturday and Sunday is a must for training. People get to wake up late in the morning, whereas I was required to wake up at 7 am in the early morning for training. People get to take nap or rest in the evening after school during weekdays, whereas I was required to show up in the field for training. People get to enjoy their 2 months school holidays, whereas I needed to train every week every day, even it's raining. We trained hard. We go all out during training. We trained until we can't feel our legs the next day. We even trained until we vomited, for times. The routines never change. Yet, I'm enjoying it. I feel satisfying and happy with it. Because I'm doing somethings I love and enjoy the most. That's the passion that drives on me.

'No pain no gain'. My coach always said this to us. If you want to improve, you need to work hard. No one is born to be a great runner. That's the quote that motivates me. Everyone wish to be a winner, no one is willing to lose.

At last, my hard work was paid. I succeeded to break the school record for event 1500m and awarded the best male athlete. I succeeded to break the records of event 4x400m for both Under-15 and Under-18 categories with my teammates in MSSMKL Zon Sentul. We also won gold medal for 4x400m in all the competitions we took part in 3 consecutive years, no matter in zon or state levels. I succeeded to make myself into the state team, representing Kuala Lumpur in MSSM for 2 years. It's truly an honor.

I made a lot of friendships for being a student athlete. Teammates are the one who always train with you, suffer with you, sweat with you, and support you. I get to make a bunch of new friends through competitions. We compete on the track, but we talk and laugh outside the track. It widen my friends circle.

It is truly a rewarding and meaningful experience for me. I'm glad that I have made the right decision to join the track and field team in high school, and to do the thing I enjoyed and confident the most.

Lessons I learnt for being a student athlete: