5 Challenges Every Freshman Athlete Faces

Freshman athletes face a number of unique challenges

This is universally true for high school freshmen, NCAA freshmen, men, women, team sport, and individual sport athletes.

Adversity is sometimes part of the natural process for a young athlete. However, some of stress can be lightened with foresight, awareness, and a little preparation for what’s ahead.

1) Complete Change of Scenery

Freshman year is a top to bottom overhaul of life flow. High School athletes are usually in a new building (I wasn’t. But then again I grew up in a small farm town in rural Iowa), and some NCAA freshman relocate across the country.

Everything from classmates, roommates, teachers, dorms, cafeteria, wakeup time, lunch time and even practice times can change. Athletes tend to be creatures of habit, relying on routines and patterns. All of this gets flipped upside down in the first year of the next level.

I always tell my athletes to prepare for the Week 1 Chaos.

“You won’t know where the bathrooms are, you won’t know anyone’s name. These small details can stack to an overwhelming amount of stress. But be aware that it’s new for everyone and understand ahead of time that most of that will dissipate by Week 2.”

2) Increased Game Mechanics and Concepts

Again, this is universal for high school, collegiate, team, and individual sport athletes. The actual game at the next level is different. Playbooks, game planning and event mapping all evolve.

There are new strategies and tactics. The old technique may not work.

3) Physically Stronger and More Athletic Teammates and Opponents

Not only is the game more complex, but the athletes are exponentially better.

Bigger, faster, stronger, smarter, more skilled.

In the case of an NCAA freshman, they may be competing against an opponent that has 5 years of physical maturity on them.

Unfortunately, there’s not much that can be done about this. Again, this is natural. It’s intimidating, nonetheless.

4) Increased Academic Workload

Be careful not to underestimate the mental stress that can come from the classroom. Freshman year is as different in the classroom as it is in the athletic arena.

Most programs also anticipate this, and they ease the Freshmen class in as much as possible. However, the intensity will pick up quickly.

5) More Pace, Frequency, and Structure in the Weight Room

For many athletes, Freshman year serves as Intro to Formal Strength Training. This is a completely new element to the athletic experience.

Many high school freshmen will experience the weight room for the very first time. College athletes will experience a significantly enhanced environment, typically simultaneously being used for multiple teams being led by multiple high energy strength coaches.

I know from personal experience that the weight room can become the most stressful hour of a freshman athletes’ day. It’s new, it’s fast paced, loud, socially pressuring, and hard. Really hard.

I always tell my collegiate-bound athletes that I want them to be the most low-maintenance athletes in the weight room. I want them to be comfortable with a training environment, being coached, moving properly, and maybe even self-sufficient reading their own program (or at least a whiteboard).

Confidence in the weight room can dramatically set a freshman athlete up for a smooth transition to the next level of athletics.

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If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy learning more about our Youth Training Principles.

Train hard. Live full.