These past few weeks have been some of the busiest weeks of my semester. Mid terms were only a few weeks ago, I am right in the middle of our fall practice season, and there are so many events going on at Trinity. Lately, with all of the things that have been going on, I have had little time to breathe in between activities. I always look forward to the end of the day when I know that I can just close my eyes and rest, hopefully waking up refreshed to start the next day.
Right now we are just finishing up the fall with the classic Fall World Series. We split up all the guys and divide the players in two different teams. One team is the maroon team and the other is the white team. Tonight we played our first game and we have games through the weekend. We play our final game on Sunday and once it is finished, our fall season will be finished.
Two weeks ago was Halloween and we decided to do something fun and entertaining. On Halloween we had baseball practice in costumes. Every player dressed up in a different costume and we had regular practice. It was a blast. The slide show below contains all the pictures from the practice.
Finally after two months of waiting, it's that time of year again when the leaves are changing, Halloween is coming up, and the cooler weather is starting to roll in. Fall has arrived! Fall is a great time of year because the World Series is in the fall, we start fall baseball, and the cooler weather is a nice change. On Monday we started fall practice for Trinity University’s baseball team. Our practices usually run about 5-6 hours depending on what type of day we have planned. Generally speaking, the first part of practice is when we stretch, run, throw, take groundballs, and hit batting practice on the field. The second part of practice is usually a 9 inning scrimmage depending on how many pitchers need to throw live innings that day. We have practices on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and Friday. Of course now that baseball practice has started, I have to manage my time even more wisely because on those four days, a big part of my day is spent on the field.
The most important thing I do when we have fall baseball practice is getting stuff done in advance. This means that if I know I have an assignment due on Friday that I will try and get it done on Wednesday, a night I do not have practice, instead of waiting to do it on Thursday when we have practice. Also, the time during the day that I relax and watch TV or play video games has to be minimized because I am now doing more baseball during the week. Overall, it is not much harder to manage my time wisely, but I attribute this to my previous experiences from last year. Even though my week gets considerably harder with fall ball starting, I love it because we get to practice as a team again. Here's a video of me hitting in the cage and hitting batting practice on the field. Enjoy!
Now that I have been back in school for a little over a month, I think that I have found the schedule that allows me to manage my time wisely. It always takes a little while, at least for me, to find a rhythm to my schedule that will allow me to accomplish everything that I need to do in my day. So far, my day usually consists of five different things:
Going to class
doing homework
working out
going to practice
eating
So far, trying to do all of these things has taken a serious toll on my energy level. In high school and when I was a little kid, I could never, ever take naps. I never even thought about taking one. But once I got to college, I learned just how much taking naps could help. As an athlete and even just as a college student, sleep is incredibly important. I try to get at least eight hours of sleep a night, but ultimately I try to get ten. However, most of the time this is just not feasible. Trying to do all the things that I need to do everyday, while still trying to have some downtime makes it hard to get a lot of sleep. Most of the time, I usually get about six to eight hours of sleep a night. This is where the art of the nap comes in. Naps have been one of my greatest discoveries since I came to college. During the day after my classes and before baseball, I try to take an hour to an hour and a half nap. This has helped me tremendously.
Although naps are useful, they should never be seen as a substitute for a good night's rest. That is why I cannot wait for this weekend because I am going back home to Florida for a good weekend of rest and relaxation. Here is a slideshow of some of my family who I am going to visit this weekend and a few pictures of what I will be doing. Enjoy!
Entering my second year at Trinity, I feel pretty confident that I have learned how to manage my time wisely. My name is Nick Iacovella and I am a sophomore baseball player at Trinity University from Tampa, Florida. During my first semester at Trinity, I struggled a little bit adjusting to a college class schedule, while still trying to practice my sport everyday. However, after a few months I soon found out that good time management is the most important thing a college athlete can have.
Even though baseball season does not start until the spring, we never stop playing. This summer I spent my whole summer playing in Canada for a team called the Weyburn Beavers. After playing 54 games this summer, I was pretty worn out. After two weeks of rest and relaxation at home, it was time to come back to Texas and get back to work. Two days after coming back to school, we began workouts in the gym, running out on the field, hitting in the cages, and defensive work on the field. Almost everyday, I go to the gym to workout, run after lifting, and I hit in the cage with my roommates who are also baseball players. The key to our success on the field and in the classroom is time management. Each day we know exactly what we need to do so that we have more than enough time to finish our homework and get a good night's rest.
Here is a picture of me last year during our home opening weekend.
