The Washington University class of 2014 officially moves in on Thursday, marking the beginning of Orientation. With a multitude of programs and meetings to attend, along with friends to make, it can be hard to find time to sit down and relax. However, incoming student athletes have practices and tryouts to worry about additionally. A few fall returning athletes shared their experiences with us, as well as how they managed orientation:

Student Life: As a student athlete, how was your Orientation experience different than other students?

“It was still fun and still special, but of course it was different because we were busier, in the sense that we had a lot of mandatory practices and meetings. We weren’t able to go to every single freshmen event, which probably would’ve been a lot more fun…but regardless, we were still able to get to know our class.” – sophomore Kelly Pang (volleyball)

“First of all, we moved in a lot earlier, so we get to know our team really well. You immediately have a group of friends instead of moving in when there’s a big crowd and feeling overwhelmed by all the new people around. You kind of [know] a few people you can turn to and recognize as you’re walking to class, so I guess there’s a sense of security there.” – senior Taryn Surtees (cross country)

SL: Were there any pressures that you had to face during orientation that you feel other students didn’t experience?

“We had pretty open tryouts because we had a new coach. It was so difficult because we wanted to immediately make really close friends with the people in our class, and after the first week or so of pre-season, about half the girls got cut. It was really hard to be friends with those people and not get to see them all the time and just the added pressure, once you were on the team, worrying about playing time and performing every day.” – junior Emma Brown (soccer)

“I really wanted to fit in with the team. They were all really good friends when [the freshmen] got there, so there was the pressure to not only fit in with the people my age that I was meeting but also on the team.” – sophomore Hannah Buck (golf)

“Right off the bat, the first game is the first week that school starts, but other than that, we have a scrimmage right in the middle of orientation. As a freshman, everything is more pressured because…you’re trying to make a name for yourself on the field and you’re trying to get yourself knows.” – senior Jim O’Brien (football)

SL: What was it like to have to practice and get ready for the sport while the rest of your floormates were relaxing or getting to know the campus?

“It took [my roommate] and I a little bit longer to meet everyone on our floor because we were always the ones who were gone. We were always at practice, so we would meet people at odd hours or in odd ways.” – junior Mac Chamberlin (soccer)

“There were times when it was kind of annoying; they’d be going to do something and we couldn’t go, but it was definitely worth it. We really didn’t have a weekend at school until mid-October, so that was weird, but we really didn’t miss out on too much.” – Buck

“You kind of get some of that beforehand with upperclassmen, which is huge as a freshman, but also it’s tough seeing other people do that. It really just makes you think and makes you realize, about the sport, why you play it and why you came here. You do have to make sacrifices, but in the end it’s all worth it.” – O’Brien

SL: Would you say that being a student athlete, during Orientation, affected your ability to meet people and make friends?

“We got to meet other athletes in the fall and develop a little bit of a network, which was really nice to have at the beginning; a nice network of people that you knew from different fall sports, people you would see at the Athletic Complex, that had the same feelings you had at the beginning of the school year.” – Chamberlin

“On the whole, it definitely helped. When freshmen come in, initially you have your freshman floor that you get very close with, and while it took me longer to know my own freshman floor, I was also simultaneously getting to know my teammates’ freshman floors. Instead of just having one freshman floor, I had five different floors that I could go to and had friends on them.” – Brown (soccer)

“It perhaps affected my ability to meet people, yeah, but I think if I hadn’t been more diligent, I could’ve had the same experience as other freshmen did, but because I already had a group of friends through my team, I didn’t feel so dependent on my floor. There are plenty of people who are really good friends with their floors who still are athletes, even cross country runners, but it takes a little bit more effort.” – Surtees

SL: Do you have any advice, keeping your experiences in mind, for both the incoming athletes and nonathletes about orientation?

“Enjoy it, because the beginning the school year, if you’re playing a sport or not, is a really fun time. There’s not quite as much work as when school really gets starts to get rolling and you really have a bunch of chances to meet tons and tons of people and just have a great time.” – Chamberlin

“Because there’s a lot of things going on and a lot of opportunities for you to ‘try this’ or ‘try that,’ just make sure you do what you want to do. If there are things that you’re interested in, don’t hold back and go to them. I wish I could’ve gone to as many things as possible.” – Pang

“For me, I think it was important to figure out my priorities right away. I decided that, for me, it was going to be more important to skip some Orientation events and get enough sleep for practice than to try and do everything and just feel overwhelmed. That’s definitely a personal decision, but I think it’s a decision everyone needs to make.” – Surtees