ROLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL TIDE ROLL!!!!! As many students have heard and even participated in that famous cheer at any sporting event, it can bring a great sense of pride and cheer for our school, The University of Alabama, aka Title Town or TTown for short. Well I am here to tell you what it’s like being on the other side of that cheer, the one being cheered on. Being a student-athlete isn’t always what it seems.
For those of you who may not know me, my name is Travis Kerner, and I have been extraordinarily blessed to have the privilege to swim here at The University of Alabama for my entire four years here. When I was in high school, the coaches here took a chance on me. I wasn’t the fastest person being recruited, by any means. I wasn’t the strongest, biggest, tallest or most talented. I was just a kid from Richmond, Virginia, who the coaches decided to give a chance to swim at a major SEC school.
At the beginning of each year, each athlete is given the team’s athletic gear. Athletes call this day “Nike Christmas.” The gear is considered to be an athlete’s prized possessions. But the one thing that sticks out to people the most, well at least to me, was the red backpack with the Alabama A. Before the swim team had our Nike Christmas my freshman year, I wore the usual black North Face backpack that about 75 percent or students on campus have now. It was nothing special, and I just wanted something normal. And I even felt like a normal student. However, the first day I started using athlete backpack, it’s almost like things changed.
A lot of times, athletes are seen as dumb or unintelligent. Knowing that I would have that red backpack, its almost as if I would be putting myself in that category. But what other people may see may not be what I see. Athletes may be given a bad rap at school, but at Alabama, we have some of the smartest athletes around, along with the some of the best resources you can have. At the end of the day, we are all trying to get a degree in our desired major, athlete or not.
But what others don’t see that athletes do see is what it truly takes to be an Alabama athlete. For example, I will take you through my daily routine. I would have to be up at 5:30 every morning and going to practice at the Aquatic Center from 6:00-8:00. Once practice was over, it was time to go to class. Usually, we can only have class in between the hours of 9:00-2:00. Then, it is time for afternoon practice, which ran from 2:30-4:30. And finally, on select days, we have weights from 5:00-6:00. That is just one typical day in the life of a swimmer here, and this doesn’t include meets, traveling and any pre/post practice rehabilitation.
But the thing is, however, that every sport is different. Whether other sports are n the field until 7:00, in the weight room until 8:00, or have to be at gym practice from 1:00-5:00, in the middle of the day, we all have our obstacles. We all have certain things that we have to sacrifice because of being athletes. If I had the opportunity to be in a Greek organization or run for SGA here, I would have done it. The problem is that I just didn’t have the time. One thing that I have learned in college is that some things work out for you and others don’t.
To conclude, being an athlete is truly great, however, having the ability to being an Alabama athlete is a blessing. To me, it really is not just a red backpack; it is a sense of pride and accomplishment that is something that should never be taken from granted.
Roll Tide.
Travis Kerner is a senior majoring in biology, and he is a four-year swimmer for UA. During that time UA’s swim team went from last place in the SEC to number 6 in the nation. Travis is also the president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, and a Health Hut Intern for Project Health. After graduating this May, Travis will be heading off to chiropractor school at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Port Orange, Florida.
