By George Gallardo, Staff Reporter
Wake up. Drive to campus and find parking. Go to class. Go to practice. Go to class again. Grab something to eat. Drive back home. Do homework. Go to sleep. Do it all over again tomorrow.
That’s the everyday routine for many student-athletes. At CSUDH, the schedule of a Toro athlete is often busy with team meetings, practices, and classes – from the moment they arrive on campus until they drop their bags at home, they pack in a lot of activity within 24 hours. For some, the grind can become too much, leading to burnout.
Most college students will experience burnout at some point. Between juggling classes, work, personal issues, and maybe even health issues, it’s easy for some students to feel fatigued, bored, or just drained emotionally. But for student-athletes, there’s the added pressure of competing and performing at a high level.
According to a 2023 NCAA study of 23,000 collegiate student-athletes, 35 percent of women and 16 percent of men reported feeling mentally exhausted during the 2022-2023 academic year. The grind, as they say, is real, especially when trying to keep up with schoolwork on the road.
“You got practice from 10 am to 2 pm, and you got class before and after practice,” said junior men’s basketball guard Tomi Adesiji, a first-year business student. “You’re so tired from practice, you don’t even want to do your homework, but you have to.”
Adesiji’s teammates, senior guard Joshua Ramirez, echoed a similar experience. Ramirez said he and his teammates play with a lot of passion, but staying current with classwork can be difficult at times.
“We play mostly Monday through Friday, and then we get an hour on our own trying to put up some shots,” said Ramirez, who studies kinesiology. “I think just the homework load and with the studies and all that … certain times are thin, I feel a little bit burnt out, but [basketball is] something that I love.”
Despite the challenge of finishing homework on the road, both Adesiji and Ramirez told The Bulletin that they still manage to find solace on the court.
“It’s not really being burnt out on the basketball side,” Adesiji admitted. “It’s more like the homework side.”
Love of the game is often the primary motivation for Toro athletes – after years of practice, it’s a lifestyle many just become accustomed to. But if the passion isn’t there to keep them going, then the burnout will likely stop them in their tracks.
Other Toro athletes found solace in their faith. Women’s soccer midfielder Christine Duarte said she “built a relationship with God” to deal with burnout on and off the pitch.
“It shifted my mindset and instead of thinking, ‘Oh, I have to do this everyday,’ to ‘Oh, I get to do this everyday!” said Duarte, a senior mathematics student. “Not all of us are as blessed and as lucky to come here.”
Duarte’s teammate, junior goalkeeper Audrey Haman, said it’s important for student-athletes to have lives outside of their sport.
“Don’t let school or work be your identity,” said Haman, a kinesiology student. “Find something else, like God or a good relationship.”
Some student-athletes, like Rainbow Six Siege Gold Esports team co-captain Bryan Diaz, find they need to step away from the game for a bit. Diaz told The Bulletin that playing the game Apex Legends with his previous team felt more like an “unpaid job.”
“Trying to give so much commitment to something I wasn’t passionate about was really hard for me,” said Diaz, a junior computer technology student. “I burnt out and I had to quit halfway through the season.”
Valorant Esports team member Nicole Wittman, told The Bulletin that she felt overwhelmed by her workload.
“At the end of our season, I took a huge couple months break from the game before coming back for the season,” said Wittman, a senior film, television production, and design student.
While students find their own path to battle burnout, the campus offers added help. They are available to all students currently enrolled and who’ve paid the student health services fee. Primary care, physical examinations, specialty care and psychological services are aids the school provides. Diaz, the Rainbow Six Siege co-captain, noted that CSUDH Student Health Services is available to all students in need of additional resources of support.
“I will utilize it in the future because we are already paying our tuition and it’s already covered by it and the resources are there,” Diaz said. “I might as well take advantage of it.”
