It is a veryexciting time during these girls lives and I know how beneficial it is from hear from girls who are actually living through anathletic college career!
DIII OFF-SEASON (FALL):
One of the biggest things about being off season is having the drive to work out on your own. A coach will have an eye on you about how much you are working out, but you yourself have to hold yourself accountable to being in shape. An average day: I wake up, go to classes, and I always work out around4pmwith a few teammembers. Our work outsconsist of a cardio then a lift, we switch our lifts every day, some days we do arms, others we do full body, and other days we do just legs. I personally work out a lot because I really care about the future of our team and I firmly believe the harder you work in the off-season, the strong you will be in season. During off-season wealso have a month of fall ball. Which is practices everyday for a month (2 hours) and then we end the "season" with atournament.
Off-season is a time where I look to improve my skill sets. I try to play wall ball a few times a week and work out about 6 times a week. I attempt to visit my coach in her office 2 times a week to keep her updated oneverything going on in my life, that way when season starts she knows where I stand and Iknow where she stands.
DIII IN-SEASON (SPRING):
I wake up, go to classes, eat lunch with my teammates at12pm,and practice everyday at4pm. I leave for practice at about 330 everyday, that way I have a good 20 minutes to warm up and talk to my teammates abouteverything that is on my mind. We have a 2 hour practice, which includes conditioning, warmups, 7v7s, and drills. Practice gets over around6pmbut we do not leave the field until 615pm. From there we have team dinners in our cafeteria. My team is very , very close-we are friends on and off the field. I am normally in my room around7:30pm. In total, I spend about 4 hours a day geared towards lacrosse, this may seem like a lot, but I count lacrosse as my social life too. After dinner, I go back and shower in my dorm and dohomework till about11pmor12pm, then go to bed. During season, I get very tired, so I try to go to bed as soon as I can, because I know what the next day holds.
I chose to play DIII because I wanted to have it all. I am double major, I am in a sorority, Iwork on campus, I studiedabroad for a semester, and I have a social life. This may seem like a lot, but I do it all, along with playing a sport. At the DIII level you can have it all. Coaches encourageyou to study abroad and they encourage you to invest your time into other outlets besides a sport. Playing lacrosse is not a full time job, but it is a huge commitment.