What it’s like to be a student athlete at Cornell

Being Division 1 is every student athlete’s dream. But behind the honor of representing the Big Red comes immense dedication and effort.

These students not only balance the heavy workload that comes with being a student at Cornell, but also practices, lifts at the Friedman Strength and Conditioning Center, traveling for games, extracurriculars and more.

As a member of the Women’s Polo team, I can attest to the fact that being a student athlete at Cornell is tough, but equally rewarding.

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak to four student athletes at Cornell, all from different teams. Here’s what they had to say:

Ignacio Masias, Junior, Men’s Polo

Biggest challenges and rewards of being a student athlete?

I personally think that the biggest challenge of being a student athlete is being able to manage your time efficiently between a rigorous academic schedule and the commitments associated with playing a varsity sport.

On the other hand, I think that the rewards of being a student athlete outweigh the challenges. Being on the Polo team has given me the opportunity to meet great people and form strong friendships. It has also helped me maintain a balanced lifestyle between academics, sports and a social life.

How do you manage your time and balance everything you have on your plate?

I think that being a student athlete has forced me to improve my time management and planning skills. I have learned to be very efficient with my time and have realized that I actually perform better in other aspects of my life, such as academics, when I have a busier and more active lifestyle.

What are the most important things about being successful in your sport, and as an athlete in general?

Hard work and dedication are necessary traits to succeed in every sport. However, specifically to Polo I consider that being able to successfully communicate on the field is very important. Maintaining a united and cohesive team is hard, but it is the main aspect that can really set a team apart and make it successful.

The characteristic that makes Polo unique is the relationship with the horses. They are the main factor in this sport and without them we wouldn’t be able to do anything, so putting in the time to take care of them and train them is also key.

What was the recruiting process like and why Cornell?

I actually made the decision of coming to school in the U.S. very late, so I did not have a formal recruiting process. I talked to the coach, David Eldredge, after I had applied and sent him a video of some of my games. My father graduated from Cornell in 1986, so I had always considered Cornell as an option, but I decided to come here because of its strong undergraduate business program and Polo team.

Allegra Hanlon, Sophomore, Women’s Tennis

Biggest challenges/rewards of being a student athlete?

I’d say obviously one of the biggest challenges is balancing school and my sport, especially being at a place where you are expected to constantly produce high quality work in the classroom.

You really have to learn to master your time management skills- when you have practice, and then class, and then practice again, and then practice the next morning, you need to know what your priorities are and what you have time for and what you don’t.

Of course, the biggest reward is really being part of a family, because at the end of the day that’s what your team becomes to you. They’re the people you create the closest bonds with because you experience all the ups and downs you could ever have in college with them, and those are friendships you never forget.

How do you manage your time and balance everything you have on your plate?

It’s definitely hard to balance, like I talked about in my first question, but in the end it really is just about prioritizing. It’s easy to get caught up in the social life of college, because there’s always places to go and people to see, and sometimes it sucks to miss out.

Of course, it’s not like we have no lives — actually, there’s a running debate of whether athletic mixers are more fun than sorority mixers — but at the end of the day you have to remind yourself that you were recruited to play a sport here by a coach who put effort into seeking you out, and you have a responsibility to yourself and your team to make the right decisions.

In terms of school, it’s definitely about being efficient with your time to make sure you’re on top of your grades, and keeping yourself in line in terms of not getting behind in classes.

What are the most important things about being successful in your sport, and as an athlete in general?

One of the most important things to remember as a tennis player on a college team, and I guess in any sport here, is that it’s not just about you.

I think this is especially hard to adjust to in tennis, because tennis is typically a one person sport. You travel alone, you compete alone, you take every loss or win for yourself and that’s what we’re used to when we come in as freshman. But once you’re on a team, you quickly realize, or at least I did, that whatever the coach does or the team does collectively is for the betterment of the team and that the ultimate goal is to make us better together, not as individuals.

Once I realized that I think it definitely contributed to my being more successful on the court, and the truth is that the experience of winning as a team and knowing that everyone put in their maximum effort for the good of what we are together, is much richer than taking a win as a one person.

What was the recruiting process like and why Cornell?

My recruiting process was different for me I think in the sense that the schools I were looking at weren’t typical of an Ivy League athlete. Of course this doesn’t go for everyone, but I know that a lot of athletes here now in the recruiting process were between schools like Columbia, Brown and other Ivies.

When I narrowed mine down to two it was between Cornell and Santa Clara University in California, which is a very small, private university with lots of palm trees and warm weather. In the end, though, I chose Cornell for two main reasons:

1) The education I am getting here is one of the best in the world, and I know that it will help me wherever I go in life.

2) The team unity, which is always something you want to observe when looking at schools as an athlete, was the best of all the ones I’d seen. All the girls on the tennis team here really know each like the backs of their hands and would do anything for each other, and I saw that on my visit and wanted to be a part of it.

Andrew Broom, Freshman, Men’s Lightweight Rowing

Biggest challenges and rewards of being a student athlete?

My biggest challenge by far is balancing time between academics, athletics, and my social life. Dealing with built up fatigue from all of my priorities is a daily struggle.

Biggest rewards are developing a close bond with my teammates and receiving a world class education.

How do you manage your time and balance everything you have on your plate?

Every student athlete will tell you that it’s incredibly difficult to balance their time. Up to five hours of any given day can be spent doing rowing-related activities, whether it’s practice, extra workouts or team meetings.

Personally, I write down things that I have to do for my various classes and then decide on dates/times that I will complete them so that they fit into my athletic schedule.

As for my social life, I take advantage of any free time I have on the weekends to relax, so that I can decompress and be ready for the coming week.

What are the most important things about being successful in your sport, and as an athlete in general?

Being successful in rowing is slightly different from success in other sports. Rowing is possibly the most pure form of sport in the world. It all comes down to how much pain you can tolerate, and how much you’re willing to sacrifice for your teammates.

Any rower will tell you that it’s complete hell, but there’s something about laying it all out there for your team that keeps you coming back for more. It’s like a horrifically painful, yet strangely addictive drug. It’s awesome.

What was the recruiting process like, and why Cornell?

The recruiting process for me was certainly abnormal. Before my senior year of high school, I was seriously considering being done with rowing when I got to college. This was foolish of me because while I was sitting around weighing my options, the rest of the recruits in my recruiting class were finding roster spots on teams across the country.

That’s when I got a call from my current coach at Cornell. This was a big deal because Cornell’s lightweight rowing team was coming off its first of two consecutive national championships.

I came on an official visit and loved the team atmosphere as well as the university. So a couple days later I committed, cancelled my other recruiting visits, and here I am today.

Samantha Mcllwrick, Sophomore, Women’s Field Hockey

Biggest challenges and rewards of being a student athlete?

The biggest reward of being a student athlete is going through college with your teammates/best friends. From morning conditioning sessions to studying at the library, your teammates are your support system for four years.

How do you manage your time and balance everything you have on your plate?

In terms of time management, it’s all about managing your priorities and identifying what’s most important to you. Obviously, these priorities change, but making sure you spend some time for yourself is really important as well.

What are the most important things about being successful in your sport, and as an athlete in general?

There are a variety of factors that go into being “successful” in sport, but I would rank accountability and empathy high on the scale.

What was the recruiting process like and why Cornell?

My recruiting process was a bit different than most of my teammates because I’m Canadian, but essentially one of my coaches is friends with Donna Hornibrook (the field hockey coach), and was able to advocate for me.

I chose Cornell because I wanted to experience the East Coast, and because of the down to earth culture on campus, as well as on the field hockey team.