Training and traveling within the city is a central aspect of the NYU student-athlete’s life. This results in added time commitment, which requires advanced time management skills and creating additional academic and social pressure on the athletes. However, more traveling increases bonding opportunities for the team.

Athletes must perfect the art of time management in a way that many college students would find impossible — or else they run the risk of having to complete readings on a bus where loading the paper takes longer than the reading itself due to shoddy Wi-Fi. After encountering these obstacles, doing the reading may not be worth it. According to sophomore baseball player Jack Kurtenbach, reading on the go is a recipe for disaster.

“The Wi-Fi doesn’t ever work and looking at a screen on a moving bus is just asking for car sickness,” Kurtenbach said. “It’s not a great thing to have before practice.”

Sophomore golfer Qizhi Wong said he also does not study on buses. With trips sometimes taking a whole day’s time, it’s not always possible to get work done while traveling. Athletes like Wong learn to adapt.

“Traveling with the team does not equate to bad grades,” Wong said. “It just means that one has to try even harder and manage his or her time more efficiently.”

Training and traveling within the city is another part of a student-athlete’s life. Former NYU soccer player and junior Santiago Irigoyen stated that this used to be an issue with the soccer team because traveling to the training facility was an hour-long ordeal. Kurtenbach noted that sometimes just the traveling was stressful.

In addition to this extra stress, some athletes find that traveling impacts their social lives.  While many students claim NYU’s lack of a campus already makes it difficult to find a social group and meet new people, sophomore baseball player Eli Edwards said that for student-athletes on the road for multiple games per semester, establishing a social circle can be even more trying.

“NYU sports definitely affected my social life,” Edwards said. “This was just because we were gone most weekends playing games and I came back so tired I did not want to go out.”

But the team can also alleviate the lack of social life — according to Kurtenbach, traveling with the team facilitates bonding between teammates.

“Travel brings the guys closer together. When we get to the destination, we’re assigned roommates,” Kurtenbach said. “That’s a great way to get to know your teammate, and if not the roommates, the rest of the team is in a hotel with nothing else to do, so you bond in that time.”

Email Marshall Winfield at [email protected].