Women’s basketball player Taylor Johnson gives insights into what an average day looks like for a student athlete; from working early mornings for a jump start in her future career to balancing schoolwork and basketball training on a daily basis.

       Johnson starts off her early mornings around 6 in the morning before most college students wake up. Most student athletes avoid work outside of school to focus on their training within their sport and schoolwork maintenance. Johnson on the other hand dedicates her free time toward putting in extra outside work so that she can be more knowledgeable in her future.

      Johnson explains  “I currently work at Santa Rosa Orthopedics as a Physical Therapy Aide aside from playing basketball and school. I’m working part time right now, but I love my job.” 

       Balancing time in between a long schedule of studying and training is difficult for any student athlete. Johnson’s busy schedule includes her having to prioritize what’s most important and maintain that focus day in and out. 

       “Working, practice, and school can be a lot sometimes but I’ve found a way to balance my time with it all,” said Johnson. “Being a kinesiology major, there is a pretty large workload when it comes to school. I spend a good amount of time studying each week for my classes, especially for labs. It’s really important to manage my time with school, work and basketball and finding time to get homework and studying done.”

       After work at the Santa Rosa Orthopedics, Johnson proceeds to dedicate herself to her craft, Sonoma State Basketball. She explains how much basketball has meant in her life, the reason why she is able to continually grind, and why it motivates her daily. 

       “Basketball is something that I’ve loved ever since I was little. It provides me an escape from the outside world and is a place where I don’t have to think really about anything except the game. I get really excited for games and nothing really ever beats the feeling of winning a good game. Basketball has also provided me with some of my best friends, and I’m so thankful for that,” Johnson explained.

       Johnsons’ busy schedule continues with her basketball training. She has to manage practice and weight training while having to incorporate recovery as well to be able to repeat her routine the following day. 

       “Weight training occurs three times a week and it’s one of my favorite parts of the week. Weight training is pretty intense, we lift a lot of heavy weights and try to reach PRs each week. For conditioning, we do a lot of continuous sprinting and different running intervals but it’s really been paying off in the pre season so far. Practice is each day and consists of different drills and scrimmages each day. All of my teammates and I love to compete so we have challenges each day to see what team can win, which makes practice a little bit more fun,” said Johnson. “For body recovery, I really like doing ice baths and rolling out my body. I get pretty sore from basketball so whatever I feel like I need, whether it’s a heating pad, ice, or just stretching, I like to get it done when I have time to.”

       Everything within the day of Jonhnsons’ life consists of hard work and dedication and it is one person’s representation of how difficult being a student athlete can be. She lives this schedule everyday and still manifests positivity consistently throughout it all.