Life as a Student Athlete
Meet Kyle! He’s a third year political science major from Eastvale, California and a member of the UCI men’s track and field team. I had the chance to sit and chat with Kyle about his experience as a student-athlete here at UCI.
What sport do you participate in?
Track and field
What events do you do?
I do the 400 hurdles, the 4x4, and occasionally the 400-meter open race.
How can you get recruited to be a D1 athlete?
You can put yourself on a website called NCSA, which is a recruiting website where you create a profile and then coaches can contact you via email. Around your junior and senior years in high school, you're able to reach out to coaches and apply through online recruiting pages they have. You can look up the school and sport and then they'll have a questionnaire that allows you to input your information. That way they're able to contact you.
Did coaches come out to see you compete in high school?
A lot of coaches reached out to me during my senior year. They came out to really important meets like state meets, CIF championship, and Masters Meet for Southern Section. Coaches will come out and watch to see how you do, and they're always looking for specific times or events that you can do.
How different or similar was your high school athletic experience to that of the college experience?
I came from a really competitive and structured program in high school, so the transition here was not too hard. As far as UCI’s program in comparison, it's completely different.
The coaching here is a lot more specialized. While a high school might have a coach that coaches a lot of things, here you have one coach that's specifically there for pole vault or hurdles. So, I feel like coaching is a little bit different, and then just the level of competition. Here, everybody's elite. When you come out of high school, it's like you were the elite high school and then you get here and everybody's on the same level. You have to try literally 100 times harder to be better and then be better for yourself … Definitely, the level of competitiveness is different.
What does a typical day in the life look like as a student-athlete?
Wake up, obviously. Eat breakfast, which is probably the most important thing. I normally do oatmeal and then I'll do almond milk with a frozen fruit smoothie and then a spinach omelet. Also some granola ... Trying to get as much protein as I can. It sounds like a lot, but that’s a typical breakfast.
I normally take later morning classes so around 11 a.m. I take my first class because I practice from 1 to 5 p.m. I try to plan everything around the practice. That way I can give myself enough time in the morning to study and then get ready for my class and then practice. After practice, I'll normally have a 5 or 6 p.m. class and then 6 to 9:30 p.m., as well. Pretty long, but it’s not that bad; I like it.
What about any free time that you have or during the offseason?
We don't practice on Saturdays or Sundays during the season, so that's a good time off. I use it to study, catch up, and then just to relax, really. There’s not that much free time during the week because everything is structured. During the offseason I go to the beach. That’s my number one thing – going to the beach. If I could, I would probably go every single day.
How do you balance it all – school, practice, travel, meets, etc.?
I just prioritize things. I do whatever is the highest priority, which normally for me, and for pretty much every other student-athlete, is academics and then it's athletics and then everything else, and I feel like that's really important. That's kind of how I get through, making sure that I get everything done in the classroom before I step out on the track.
What's your favorite part about being a student-athlete?
My favorite part would probably be the gear and then being able to walk around campus and seeing other student-athletes – you know, they understand what you have to do – and just being able to compete. Really, I mean, the best part is those top three things: competing, seeing your teammates, and then just being a student-athlete is really fun.
Why did you choose UCI?
Probably its location, and then the academics, too, because not only is it D1, but it’s a high academic institution and a really well-known school. There are a lot of good programs here and a lot of successful alumni. I also like that it's by Newport Beach and the Irvine Spectrum. There’s a bunch of different things around, so you’re getting your academics and you're getting your leisure time.
Any advice you would give to a future student-athlete or someone interested in becoming a student-athlete?
My advice would be to just do what you want to do. Being influenced by other people does play a part in your decision but at the end of the day, you should go somewhere where you really can envision four years, maybe more, at the school. Really be certain about your decision.
