Day in the life of a D2 college Athlete. Women's basketball program

[Msputiton]

Let's talk about the life of a student Athlete.

What's it like, what's required of you, and what does it take to maintain your scholarship.

So I grew up in a itty bitty little town called Picayune. Yup not much happens in this little ole town. That worked out for little ole me🥴

See at a young age I got bored so I found something to entertain myself. BASKETBALL.

Almost immediately I fell in love with it. Around sophomore year people noticed this little skinny thing on the court, that was just smothering anyone who had the ball.

Blocking shots and occasionally putting up buckets.

I was never known for scoring, but defensively I was a powerhouse, and my speed off the charts.

So my momma created me an Instagram page, and youtube page solely to show off my highlights and get colleges interested in me.

Well it worked I didn't get too many offers, mostly because I was 5'5 100lbs. But I didn't care. I am going to college!!! 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱 on a scholarship to play my favorite sport.

But I have to leave my family, my momma, and my pops and my little brother🥺🥺🥺.

Okay, okay let's get to the actual topic of the Mytake. What's is it like to be on a scholarship. 1 word. Exhausting. 😭

The End. I hope you enjoyed it.

Naw y'all just kidding.

So picture me laying in my little bed drooling 🤤 and the blaring noise of my alarm clock waking me up at 4:30am.

I get up I shower, best way to get me woke. I get out my bookbag(got all my gear and most importantly my deodorant) nobody claiming Shamiah is stinky.

So about 5:15 i go look at my roommate/teammate still sleeping not a morning person at all.

Roomie on the left, love her

So I turn on the light and pull her blanket off and force her out the bed. I wait for her to get ready, while I wait I pack me and her some healthy snacks, like grapes and I pack two bananas we make it to the weight room at 6AM.

We lift weights depending on the day. We finish by 7AM.

The school provides us protein packs and supplements I make a smoothie, which I always do. I always make me oatmeal as well also provided for us and grab a bottle of water. I eat it up yummy.

I'm now running to my first class at 8AM. This is purposely done.

They keep our classes from 8am to 1pm at my college. So we are ready for practice.

I get through my classes with the help of my snack I packed earlier🥰

Now I go get lunch meet a few teammates and we just have fun laughing and building Chemistry.

Now comes my favorite part of my day. It's 2pm this is when I call my EX who is my bestfriend. We talk for about 30 minutes.

It's 2:30 i make my way home. I try to knock out 1 assignment.

I look up at the clock. Alarm goes off letting me know it's 3:15. I go meet my roomie at 3:30. I give her a banana and I eat one. We drink 2 bottles of water.

The banana helps prevent cramping and the water keeps us hydrated so we have less water breaks needed.

3:45 we walk into the locker room where our banner sits as a constant reminder of what the school expects

I always point at it when I walk past. We change into our practice jersey.

4pm practice starts and it is hell. Our coach she always says, put in 3 times the effort needed for gameday and she has yet to disappoint.

We can't bring our phones during practice so here's a pic of me training with my PT back in Picayune in between seasons.

So NCAA rules say we can't practice more than 4 hrs a day including weights, so we wrap at 7:15. 🤫 she always sneaks those 15 extra minutes.🤷🏾‍♀️ all for this!!

It's what we all do it for, I know I'm lookin smooth wit it

Practice wraps me and my teammates quickly shower go off campus get some food.

Couple of my teammates after practice, rare day it ended early

Okay so we talk and eat. We usually crackin on eachother's mistakes made during practice. Usually someone on the team purposely said or did something at practice that had us all dyin so we talk bout that.

8:45 me and my roomie get home. I go straight to my room to FT my parents and little brother. We talk about our days and sometimes my little brother shows me something he made me, to let me know he misses and loves me😭. He is the best little brother ever.

9pm we get off FT because i gotta finish my work. I hate saying goodbye to them🥺

Iturn on my music really low and get to studying and doing my work.

Okay so about 1AM tired exhausted and ready for bed I finish up. I check on my roomie who is always passed out in her bed mid assignment, books and papers everywhere. I pack up her stuff mark where she left off. Cover her up and I go to bed around 1:15am.

4:30AM my alarm is going off, time to do it again😔

Trust me, ya don't wanna know what it's like on GameDay 😳

Okay so this was fun making, and I hope you enjoyed reading it.

[WhiteSteve]

This was such a cool read! And congrats, CHAMP!!!🏆 I actually opted not to play football in college because I had friends from high school who left before me and told me it was HECTIC. And it was going to be D-III ball anyway, not like I had a pro future, I just wanted to party at college lmao. I did play semipro ball in my 20s and 30s, and that was awesome, but I wish I had the college team experience, I’m sure that’s much tighter-knit bonds. No regrets though, I wouldn’t have gone to school where I did and moved to that area, and everything that led me up to meeting my lady, so every decision right or wrong that I’ve made before that was ultimately right, as I see it.

But anyway, good for you! You sound like the personification of tenacious defense, haha. I’m 6’2 but I bet you could still get a double-double guarding me between blocks and steals😂 Keep up the good work on and off the court! Good luck!

[WhiteSteve]

Oh, forgot to say…one of my housemates in college (or I was out of school still bumming around the college scene at this point😂) was one of the stars of our football team, he eventually played in the NFL. Another housemate played as well, and many more of my friends. Anyway, the non-NFL housemate was a smart guy, real good athlete but knew his future wasn’t football. He was on the perfect grind, I was so in awe of his discipline. I hardly ever saw him, haha. Out of the house early AM probably right after I was going to sleep (I was working at a bar at night), same deal as you…. lift, class, practice, homework. Kid was in unbelievable shape, looked like a statue. Didn’t drink anything, smoke anything, pop anything, nothing. And wicked nice, absolute gentleman. Kind of a square, I guess, but he was cool, haha. Then my other buddy, who did later play pro…. very different, lmfao. Not a dumb guy necessarily, but I swear this kid never cracked a book once. He was an early bird too; he had to be, but his routine was: lift, I guess he was at class (?), practice, come home and play Madden, smoke blunts if it was the off-season, have a groupie over for like 15 minutes in-and-out🤦‍♂️😂, more Madden, another blunt, and then sheets. When he got signed, he obviously moved away, and our lease was up a month or so later. I’m clearing out some stuff while moving, and I found a binder with loose leaf paper, almost entirely unused, one page of attempted notes from a class, another page of him practicing his autograph lmfao, and like a third of a page starting some sort of assignment, and I honestly would’ve thought it was written by a 13 year old, again, not because he was dumb, but because he just could not have possibly cared less😂 And he didn’t have to.

[WhiteSteve]

The NFL didn’t pan out that great, but the CFL did, and also some modeling, and now he’s a mostly-unknown TV personality, but he’s working his way up in the industry, and most importantly, is WORKING at all, haha. And the funniest part is he took speech lessons so he lost his old country ass accent he used to have, and now he talks pretty clean. It still throws me off to hear him😂 Like I have an old saved voicemail from him and he’s just like “ayyy, ayyy, dog…. ayyy, cuh, whattup, isyaboy B-Lon’, ayyy, I’m finna….”🤣🤣🤣, and now this talks like he’s on the news and shit lmfao. Good for him, it’s just funny to me as one of his old friends, haha. But yeah, all his learning seems to have come AFTER college, they obviously didn’t push him too hard. They must have been fudging something, I can’t imagine the NCAA isn’t all over that stuff, especially high profile sports like football.

[Msputiton]

Yeah i noticed your pfp. I'm guessin that nefl is.
I have plans after college and my education is my priority.
Thing a lot of us don't realize coming in is more than 90% of us ain't moving on to the next stage and will need to get a 9 to 5.
So many cruise through college and when they graduate reality hits.
That's what i love bout my coach she reminds daily of this reality.
Not being mean but in a helpful loving mother way.
She wants us successful in all aspects of our lives
I love basketball but it is just a way to achieve my dreams.

[ChrisMaster69]

Really lovely MyTake Miah, loved it and thank you for doing it.

it’s a really good read, definitely a sorted day and packed.

i like how they start early n finish early.

what’s your season run from and to?

@harleigh90 this is worth a read and something to consider after the 14th… A day in the life of…..

[Harleigh90]

@ChrisMaster69 A day in the life of an overtired, emotional student midwife 🤣

[ChrisMaster69]

@Harleigh90 and whip cracking Gorgeous Dance girlie

[Msputiton]

We start preparing for the season nov 1.
We finish up march 2. Unless we make it to the playoffs.
But we never stop training.
During the offseason we just get PT and have them train us so we continue to improve.

[Harleigh90]

@ChrisMaster69 🤣 When I find myself again, I'll write something down 💕

[Harleigh90]

Well done @Msputiton Great right up! 💕

[ChrisMaster69]

@msputiton did you make the play offs?

@harleigh90 do you need a hand finding yourself?

[Msputiton]

Last year we did. We had best record in our conference this year we just started but we 5 and 5, so we gotta pick it up to get to the playoffs.
We lost 4 starters who graduated so we kinda rebuilding

[Harleigh90]

@ChrisMaster69 A hand would be lovely 🥰 But you know I'll always find away

[Msputiton]

@Harleigh90 and thank you ma'am

[Cherry234]

Oh nice we're the same height! But I'm well over 100 lbs. I definitely did enjoy reading this. Thank you for writing this take. How do you thrive on only approx. 3 hrs of sleep a night? I couldn't do that. Also how difficult do you find balancing your schoolwork with practice?

[Msputiton]

Thank you.
Yeah I'm a skinnie Minnie 🥴 i have put 7 lbs since hs though.

But as for your question. It is very hard. I just push through it, and on Sundays i sleep in eat go back to sleep, eat and go back to sleep.
Same for in-between semesters.
Now it's normal routine so i don't struggle as much.
There is times i am frustrated trying to keep up with it but it's pretty much a routine at this point.

Freshman year i remember falling behind and calling coach to tell her i need to skip practice to catch up.
Her response was : i don't give a fuck how you get it down, just better damn well not be on my time, get your ass to practice or don't bother coming back.
I remember breaking down calling my mom crying telling her i couldn't do it. They want to much.

Momma don't play, she said.

Miah, you ain't worked this hard just to give up now, you suck it up, find a way to endure. We ain't raise no quitter.

But I'm a junior now, and it's just 3 years of it, and just kinda seems normal by now

[Cherry234]

Oh wow. Good job on adjusting to that hectic routine.

[Msputiton]

Thanks big sis🥰

[jennifer_bloom]

Wow, it seems your schedule is super tight, I guess this is the norm when you are doing high profile events, I never even played sports at the high school level but I loved ping pong time with family at home.

[AmandaYVR]

Nice job! You have a very warm and casual writing style; and you wrote about something people clearly enjoyed. Me too. 👏

You like food, huh? 😉 Do you find you have to be very careful what you eat, or does all the exercise allow you to eat what you want and indulge more?

The main thing I got out of this is that you are a very disciplined person. It, without a doubt, takes dedication to keep this schedule you do. One note of caution though - almost all humans do need about 8 hrs sleep, so if you feel yourself getting close to burnout, don't forget about the importance of sleep. It's restorative, right. But you know that.

Another thing that stands out about you is how appreciative you are; of opportunities, this passion you have, your family, your friends. Your parents raised you right, as they say. But beyond your special ability, and dedication, I think it's your attitude about life (I've seen a lot of optimism and positivity from you on GAG, especially in your questions/topics you bring up), that really is the key to your successes. It's very admirable, especially at your still young age. Great things are in store for you, Shamiah. 💜 And even if life doesn't take the paths you expected or hoped for, you seem like a good person and that is also enough.

[Msputiton]

First i wanna say thank you for your kind words.
So to answe your questions.
Yes we do have diets.
My one thing that ironically hurts me is something many people wish they had, and a really high metabolism.
It's so high i can't put enough weight to get in the regular line up.
So my diet is more eat, eat, eat load up on carbs.
But it burns right off of me.

Sadly the college experience for athletes they really don't care about our personal life or time.
Which is fine they gave us a free scholarship to play sports.

But Sunday or between semeseters when i go home i really make up for sleep.
I think this schedule is so common for me that it doesn't even get noticed until i go into hibernation mode on Sunday, or i go back home to my parents.

[AmandaYVR]

Yeah I know it's gruelling. I watched a great HBO documentary on this last year. They featured a couple/few players, who had problems like stress on their bodies, injuries, and most disturbingly the amount of money some college teams earn for the university but the students earn none of that, yet struggle to meet the curriculum demands too.
Ever watch the film Moneyball? It talks, in part, about the life of a promising baseballer who seemed to have all the makings of a star, but it never came to fruition. He became a manager instead. Also could have gone to college on a full scholarship (for academic grades, not sports) but he was convinced to do baseball. Great movie.

[Msputiton]

Never seen the movie.
But the thing most people don't know going in, is that a scholarship doesn't guarantee turning pro.
Almost 90% of us on a scholarship will go on to workba 9 to 5.
I knew i wasn't going pro coming in.
That's why i took my education seriously.
But many who have no chance are not given the facts they need.

[ohshee]

And this is why women are badass first of all your woman so you have it rougher than everyone and what I mean by that is your daily stuff you have to go through unwanted guy's flirting with you. Being someplace you might not want to be away from family having to prove yourself not only as an athlete but as a woman a smart woman too I think your parents said a very good foundation underneath the egg for you to build off of and I think that's what makes you beautiful person I think as a woman you haven't even harder the most athletes and depending on what kind of competition you're in that can make it even harder

[lightbulb27]

that's how college should be, well done. no time to get into trouble. you have a good mom to have the vision and support you.

What a caring person to be kind to your roommate like that, and signs of a leader.
I'm not seeing a lot of studying there, but your discipline and passion to succeed is excellent!
4 hours sleep? you can operate on 4hours sleep... you just might make it as a teacher if so. That's not much... most people need 7-8, make it up on weekends. All that discipline will get you through life.

"college provides snacks". I wonder what... protein powder stuff? I don't know that I believe in that, and bars and such. it's a lot of sugary/sugar alcohol junk... new inventions. eat real food if can get it, but young body going to burn whatever you put in.

[NathanDavis]

admirable, inspiring... and it makes me quite glad for you as I remember others posts you've made about basketball, and I can definitely feel the love you have for it, which is about one of the greatest things that sport can give you and bring into your life...

are your games on TV yet... or stream, then I might check them out other than the UCONN games on ESPN

[Msputiton]

I don't actually play I'm a bench warmer🥴
I got a total of 10 minutes of play time all 3yrs.

[NathanDavis]

well, that's part of the game... but you definitely have to be ready, when the time comes...

[Msputiton]

Yup, I'm satisfied to get an education for free, so i can get my career popping.
Playing time would be just added perk

[NathanDavis]

that is impressive... and nowadays, a blessing

[Msputiton]

Thank you sir

[Jaximus-Lion]

Congratulation 👏👏 Hard work always pays off. I wish i had this kind of chance. Nice Kyrie's there. Waking up early and work out , the work out, hooping and all the fun brings some memories. Enjoy it and good luck. What other shoes do you hoop in?

[Msputiton]

Thank you.
I do love my team.
I promise you don't wanna get me started on sneaks.
Once i get started you can't stop me.
I love sneaks🥴

[Jaximus-Lion]

Well! I started hooping pretty late, i was 24 years old. So my first shoe i got was KB8 or crazy 8 and Top Ten 2000 (same model but different overall), Then i got my first retro Jordans 13, it took me 3 years till i bought my first Air Jordan 1 :D. I got the T Mac millennium (red and blue), Harden VOL1, Kyrie 3 and 7, Lebrons 4 and soldier 9 and the last two i bought were the Lebrons 14 and KD trey VII. I can talk sneakers all day, i am not challenging you, just saying that am a sneaker head too ;)

[spartan55]

That was quite interesting. I always heard that scholarship athletes have a busy schedule, and your take illustrates that. Is off season a bit less hectic?

[Msputiton]

Yes it is less hectic.

[Birdlegs]

You forgot the sleeping in the locker room before morning lifts cuz the team got drunk the night before and there’s no way you’re waking up on your own😭 or is that just my team?

[Msputiton]

Lmao, no comment

[cookiecrusher]

I'll be honest i didn't read half of it. Because i don't that much about basketball and i don't know you enough to invest myself in too deep.

Have to say, that this is a fine effort, reminds me of the work i did to rise to the top in parkour.

Try to find time for enjoyments too in life, or you might burn out at some point. Even MJ took some time off, not much though.

Good luck to you

[Summeroflove]

Wow seems like you have a busy life. Loved reading. How do you sleep 1 am to 4 am though and still function? I would be a zombie. But I guess after anything you get used to it after a while.

Congrats though! Super impressive

[DWornock]

If it was easy, anyone could do it. It is a tradeoff. Do you want to take it easy, watch TV 10 hours a day and live a boring life that few people know or do you want to put forth the effort to be a star, have peoples respect, and be successful in life.

[Msputiton]

This was a my take because people wanted me to make it.
Not me complaining or asking for advice🙄

[Jamie05rhs]

@Msputition I understand that. But what he said is true, though.

[alance99]

You are very working super hard for your dream and it is giving you desired results as well hats off to you, i hope you become the best player on our planet, best of luck 🙂

[Jamie05rhs]

Great MyTake. I'm really proud of you, Shamiah. Keep up the good work!

[collie22]

thank you i didn't know bananas helps prevent cramping. i needed to know that :)

[Mtbgirl]

That’s amazing. Your family must be so proud of you. You should be proud of your self as well. Great my take. 👍

[anylolone]

You play basketball, you work out, you study, you sleep, repeat ad infinitum.

[DonkeyDan]

Great MyTake and I'm exhausted just reading it lol

[Msputiton]

Thank you, sir🥰

[Anonymous]

Interesting to read, but cringing so hard at the excessive duck face in the first photo

[newfreshstart]

what is your college major

[Msputiton]

Elementary studies and child development

[newfreshstart]

thats a great career

[Aakash_Hangargi]

Was your another account named as kayala?

[Msputiton]

No... miah02

[Aakash_Hangargi]

But weren't you like 15 last year?

[Msputiton]

Nope you really have the wrong person. Wasn't on here that long.

[Aakash_Hangargi]

Lol maybe there was this kayala athelete as well and Miah she was a 15 yr kid you do look like her or maybe i am just nutz 🤣

[jasco]

nice fam, hope your career works out

[Msputiton]

🥰🥰🥰