STANFORD, Calif. - With the time commitments between football and academics, not to mention other pursuits, it can be difficult to stay organized and accomplish all your goals. With that in mind, several Stanford football student-athletes offered their advice on how to handle both sports and academics. Here are their responses:
Mike Tyler: "The big thing is establishing good habits in every aspect of your life. You don't have time to improvise often, so things have got to be very much planned and established. Establishing good habits is huge. Strength coach Shannon Turley talks about it, whether it's cleaning the weight room, making your bed, or other simple things like that.
"Every quarter, I make sure that during the first couple weeks that I'm really on top of things with the new schedule and the new challenges. If I really stay on top of things, they turn into habits.
"I really take pride in time management and having positive habits that allow you to do both. Every minute of every day of mine is planned from the moment I wake up. I have a whiteboard and literally every hour and every minute I have planned out. My roommates make fun of me for it."
Bobby Okereke: "My dad's always about the three P's: Preparation, persistence and perseverance.
"In anything you're doing, prepare for it and work hard for it. It's always going to be tough, so you've got to persevere through that and you've got to be persistent. Those three P's have always carried me through a lot of different challenges in life."
Dalton Schultz: "Do what is fun for you.
"I tell people, 'yeah, I'm doing video games at Stanford (science, technology and society major with a game design focus)' It's my favorite pastime. It's what I enjoy. I've taken two things, football and video games and turned it into a lifestyle that I love and it's driving me forward.
"It's cliché, but do what you want to do. Don't worry about money, don't worry about anything. If you want to be an art major, be an art major. Don't worry about any stats, like how much you make coming out of a major, because if you spend a lifetime doing something you don't want to be doing, that's just dumb."
Daniel Marx: "It takes a lot of work and there will be struggles. There will be time management issues, and times where you can't do it all. It takes a lot of work. Be prepared to grind though it and prioritize in your life to what you find is the most important.
"Try to organize the best way you can. Prioritize on what you think is important and go from there. Organize your life in a constructive manner to where you can accomplish the goals you set for yourself."
Frank Buncom: "You have to make both a priority. When I say that, I mean equal priority. At a lot of universities say we're student-athletes, but may prioritize their sport over education. You're going to get a little bit of that any place depending on what time of year it is. If it's a Friday before gameday, you're going to prioritize football a little bit more than academics.
"I just say to make both of those a priority and make them equal in order to put equal amount of time into them. Malcolm Gladwell says you've got to put 10,000 hours into something if you want to be great at it. You've got to put a lot of time into whichever one that you want to be great at. If you want to be great at both then there will be some sacrifices to make."
A.T. Hall: "Don't let anybody influence you in a way that you don't want to be influenced. I had lots of people around me in high school who were willing to go to a subpar school because they wanted to screw around in high school. That's just not what I wanted to do."
David Bright: "It's a balance between sport and academics, but it's like anything else: If you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything."
Joey Alfieri: "Don't focus too much on one sport, even if you think you have a future there. Play as many sports as you can and take as many classes as you can. Don't be afraid to take summer school. I took summer school when I was in high school just because I liked math. I really enjoyed doing that."
Kevin Palma: "My advice would be dream big and don't let anything limit you. Coming in, I was a little bit intimidated by the course load. But, now I would say that if something truly interests you, shoot for it. That's true especially at Stanford, where I know you have the support to succeed."
Quenton Meeks: "No. 1 is time management. You have to sacrifice a lot, which means you can't always spend your day how you want to. Focus on getting stuff done early because the earlier you can get stuff done the better."
Trenton Irwin: "Have good habits about how much work you put in, and how diligent you are in that work. In whatever you're strong in and believe in, do that 24/7 or however much is needed. And make no excuses if it doesn't work. It's all about creating great habits."
Bryce Love: "Have an open mind. Understand that it's a process. But above all else, just have fun. That's really what it's all about."
Keller Chryst: "Be curious. Be open to anything. Ask questions, whether it's to your parents or your high school or Pop Warner coaches, older siblings. Always be curious and never be afraid to try new ideas."