I have some friends and fellow bio majors on varsity teams here at Cornell. Some of them are also pre-med. How they do it all, I had never understood. For me, this talk help clarify how they do it.

It was really nice to see how passionate coach Tanasoiu was about his players, his sport, and school. I enjoyed hearing him go on about his upbringing and how he got to Cornell. It helped me understand the passion he has for tennis. It led him to Cornell. Here, he cultivated a strong connection to the student athletes and to academia. Seeing how much he cared about his job and his sport made it really clear that his coaching both pushes and supports the students in athletics and study. He also mentioned the adversity that the students face, and that they learn to “make adversity their best friend.” The challenges they face because of these two demanding roles pushes them to overcome hurdle after hurdle and become better and better.

So when I wonder how they do it, my perspective of “it” is likely monstrous in comparison to the perspective of a student athlete juggling sports AND school. Especially when you have someone like coach Tanasoiu as well as others helping you along the way. What is incredible to me is that the average GPA of the team is apparently a 3.60. That really struck me, and I think that it is telling of the value of what the coach had to say.

In the end, I both regretted my slow decline in sports and came to understand and really appreciate what my athlete peers face and accomplish.