A Day in My Tennis Shoes

Athletic and scholastic rigor is all in a day's work

By: Ante Matijevic '05

When one hears the term student-athlete, they often ignore the student and only focus on the athlete. There is a misconception that these students have an easy life: free school, food, books and clothes. The reality is that the life of a student-athlete is full of pressures to succeed in the sport and in the classroom. Each of these endeavors requires a full-time commitment. Between classes, practices, weights, and all the other drains on one's time, there is limited time to just be a "normal" college student. The following is my true-life example of the time commitments required of a student-athlete and the challenges one faces.

Matijevic competes against a Duke player during a March 2005 game at Texas A&M's George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.

Most days start very early, since two or three times a week we have to be at the weight room at 6 a.m., which means that the alarm goes off at 5:30. Waking up is very rough considering that I probably studied last night until midnight. Workouts run for a very intense hour-and-a-half and include running and lifting weights. I ride my moped home at 7:30, trying to get there as fast as I can because I still have to take a shower and breakfast. I have a class that starts at 8, so I won't have time for breakfast since the professor doesn't like students coming in late. This class is until 8:50, and the next one starts at 12:40 p.m.

I leave a gap in my class schedule so I can get extra hitting practice with my coaches and hopefully get an advantage over other players. These morning hits are the ones that I really enjoy. My coach and I usually work on my technique and some strategies for the upcoming matches. Just enough time to clean up and grab something to eat since I am in class again from 12:40 to 2:40. I have lunch right before class, so now I am struggling to stay awake. I wish I could take a nap since I have been up for more than seven hours by this time. I hope the classes are interesting and I can keep my attention focused on what the instructor is saying.

When class is over, I go straight to the courts at 3 p.m. for team practice. It is going to be hard since we have a tournament coming up this Friday. Everyone works well and the practice runs until 6 p.m. I finally manage to get home and turn on the TV for my one hour of leisure time, watching "Friends" and "Seinfeld." I typically order food from delivery because I am too exhausted to go anywhere.

I would love to cook my Croatian food, but I rarely do since I have little time for shopping and cooking. After having a good laugh with my two favorite shows it is time to get some schoolwork done. I study until a bit after midnight and then I go to bed, since I must get some rest for the next day.

This is one day in my week. It gets really complicated when we have to travel and miss school, which happens often. I always try to study on the plane or in my hotel room; I call my friends from class to see what we did that day, and even have missed notes faxed to the hotel if possible.

The worst thing is when I miss a test. Some professors will allow to have a test proctored on the road, but only if the scholastic supervisor is traveling with us. There are many classes that only offer a set make-up day, and those tests can be much harder. There are times when the make-up test is a cumulative essay and the rest of the class has been given a multiple-choice exam.

But I have to do well in school and in tennis in order to keep my scholarship, and I have set my goals very high when it comes to grades.

Being a student-athlete is hard. It requires many sacrifices and loss of freedom. We are told where to be and when to be there. But whenever anyone asks if it is worth it, I always say "Yes." Being an Aggie athlete is the greatest experience in the world.

Ante Matijevic is a senior finance major from Split, Croatia. He came to Texas A&M in the spring of 2002 on a tennis scholarship, leaving behind the war-torn country along the Adriatic Sea that wasn't free of holdout Serbian army units until the United Nations supervised the final stages of their withdrawal from eastern Croatia in 1998. This October, Croatians will celebrate 14 years of independence from Yugloslavia.

Matijevic was ranked as high this spring as No. 6 nationally as a singles tennis player and No. 1 in doubles. He is a three-time All-Big 12 selection and a two-time All-American who ranks second at A&M in career dual match singles and doubles wins. He won the Bill Erwin Scholar-Athlete of the Year distinction and the Distinguished Letterman Award this spring for his team contributions, leadership and academics, making him the first A&M athlete to ever claim both awards.