FEBRUARY 21, 2023 • By Matthew Tierney
How do you balance an engineering workload with Varsity athletics?
It's difficult. I'd be lying if I said otherwise. During the University season we have about four training sessions a week, one to two hours each, and a couple of video sessions. Then there’s the games, about two each weekend, with travel (if it’s an away game, that’s an entire weekend out of the city). There are many nights where you sacrifice sleep to meet deadlines, and you sacrifice a large portion of your social life. Sometimes you have to prioritize certain courses, lectures and assignments as it’s impossible to do everything 100%. There just isn't a lot of free time. I don’t really have any specific study routines beyond just grinding it out and using whatever time I have between school and soccer to finish up as much work as possible. One thing that I do is get to know my classmates, and having people to contact in every class makes it easier to catch up on anything.
Soccer plays a huge part in my well-being and mental health, and I’m thankful for being able to play the sport I love. When I step on the pitch, it acts as a mental reset. I get this buzz, I can't really explain it. One thing I take from engineering is the importance of a good work ethic. There are no shortcuts to success — how much you put in is how much you will get back.
