Students who excel in their studies as well as their athletic endeavors are every university’s dream. How do CapU’s own make that dream a reality?
Mizuki Kinoshita (she/her) // Contributor
Angelica Blanch (she/her) // Illustrator
The exam season is tough for everyone. Now imagine having to juggle academic success as well as athletic success in order to keep your scholarships and lay the foundation for your future professional career. Here are the stories of students who managed this incredible feat in the last year.
Brandon Lecce is a second-year student at Capilano University and a member of the Capilano Blues men’s soccer team. He usually studies two to four hours per day during the semester. When he is in class, he focuses on note-taking by rephrasing in his own words to better understand the content. Outside of class — he uses flashcards for quizzes and exams. A pro-tip from him is contacting professors for clarification.
He says time management and a dedicated mindset are critical to his success in both soccer and studying because of the domino effect; “if one aspect starts slipping, another aspect will quickly follow and make it much harder to stay focused.” Planning a week in advance when it comes to studying has helped him a lot. Encouragement from staff in the athletics department motivates Lecce to give his best.
Barcha Hnizdilova is in the second year of her psychology major and a player on the CapU women’s basketball team. She studies an average of two hours per day outside the classroom, but it can vary depending on her school load. During the finals, she studies five hours per day at minimum. Hnizdilova introduces her tips for success as — attending all classes, taking notes, and preparing for quizzes the day before. Getting a lot of sleep every day to have energy to complete all tasks is a priority for her as well.
She always creates a plan for the next day before she goes to bed. When she feels unmotivated, she remembers “why I am doing this”. When starting to study for final exams a week before the exam date, she reviews course materials and creates notes on what questions could appear on the exam.
Maya Smith is a fourth-year kinesiology student who plays on the CapU women’s soccer team. She thinks breaking up studying into smaller periods of work has been extremely helpful and eased a lot of stress. Breaking things up into smaller chunks not only takes less time but also feels rewarding. It helps her a lot with procrastination and limits stress around big assignments or exams. Smith believes that success within athletics and school really comes from good time management.
She is passionate about her studies, because if she does not do well in the classroom, she cannot play her sport, and the stress of her studies can impact her play. Sometimes her provincial playoffs lineup with midterm exams, and she is honest, soccer takes priority for her. She studies as much as she can during midterm season, but she trusts that the work she has done going to classes, taking notes, and reviewing content weekly will be enough to get a good enough grade on the exam — it has worked thus far.
Whether you are a fellow athlete or a student looking for study tips, taking some of our Academic All-Canadian advice; such as active note taking in class, attending all lectures and making a study schedule a week in advance will prove useful.