Student Athlete Interview Essay

To gain insight into the life of female student athletes I interviewed a female student athlete at Wright State University. Gabrielle is a senior studying Sports Science who runs Track and Field. From my conversation with her I could see how proud she was of discipline, strong work ethic, and positive attitude. It seems that she felt as if academic and psychological resources are ample for student athletes and that the support she has found here at Wright State has made her undergraduate degree more enjoyable. Despite these positive feelings about student athletes, she expressed that she was always busy, is board with team drama, has had injuries, and is constantly exhausted. She also expressed that she often must rush to class after practice …show more content…
During my research I found that many female student athletes struggle with the female athlete triad. This includes struggling with disordered eating, menstrual dysfunction, and osteoporosis. While I was aware that athletes in general may struggle with injuries associated with their sport, it did not occur to me the affect that college eating and the female menstrual cycle can have. During my own undergraduate experience it was difficult to eat healthy and take care of myself the way that I should have. As an athlete it is even more important to take care of yourself since you have added physical and mental stress. Females in particular can have severe side effects whether they have their menstrual cycle or not. From a female perspective, I could agree that it is appealing to think of not having your menstrual cycle but the consequences seen in my research are severe. As a woman it is frustrating to have to deal with this issue in general. It would be that much more difficult to handle while competing. In order to remain healthy, one would have to maintain a healthy diet with sufficient calories to support your active lifestyle. This could be expensive and time consuming and I now understand why this is something that female student athletes struggle