While Division 1 sports are known for their grueling time commitment and intense focus on athletics, D3 athletes, by comparison, can spend much more time focusing on academics, hanging out with friends, and exploring other extracurricular activities. At Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, athletes have a variety of different schedules depending on their course load, interests, and sports. Today, we're looking at the schedule of Peter DeLalio, a junior lefty pitcher on Wesleyan's baseball team.
8:50 AM: Economics Class
“As an athlete with practice in the afternoons, sadly sometimes I have to take some morning classes. However, I like taking morning classes because it allows me to get my classes over with right away so I can relax before practice! I'm an economics major, so I take a lot of economic courses throughout the day. However, because Wesleyan is a liberal arts school, I'm able to take a lot of courses outside of my major too — on other days of the week, I start my mornings with my intro to dance class.”
10:00 AM: Breakfast
“I'm a big breakfast guy, and my go-to order for breakfast is something called a “bird in a basket” at Red and Black Cafe, one of the dining locations on campus. It's got the works — eggs, hash browns, and bacon, and it's a great start to my day, so I'm not hungry during the rest of my classes!”
11:00 AM: Lift
“At the beginning of the week, I like to get a light workout in during the mornings with my teammates. Because most of our big games are at the end of the week, lifting at the beginning of the week prevents me from being sore for our big weekend series.”
12:30 PM: Lunch
“Grabbing lunch with teammates is one of my favorite parts of the day — usually, we hit up Usdan or Summerfields, two of the main dining halls on campus. I love these two dining halls because you can use meal swipes here, making the meals much cheaper than at some other locations.”
1:20 PM: Class
“Usually I have two classes per day, and my second class today is my Chinese literature class. This class is definitely out of my comfort zone, but it has been really interesting to learn about a subject matter I am not that familiar with!”
4:00 PM: Baseball Practice
“I usually try to head to the baseball field right after my 1:20 PM class, so sometimes I get to practice earlier than four, but I never arrive later than four. Now that our season is in full swing, we practice in the afternoons, but during preseason we had night practices in Wesleyan's field house. What I love about Wesleyan's baseball program is that our field is right in the middle of campus, so getting to practice is really easy. We also play all of our home games right in the middle of campus, so we usually have a lot of students watching our games, whether they mean to or not.”
6:00 PM: Dinner
“Another perk of Wesleyan's baseball field — it's right in front of Usdan, one of our dining halls. Usually, we head to Usdan and grab dinner as a team after practice.”
8:30 PM: Chi Psi Meeting
“I am also a member of one of Wesleyan's fraternities, Chi Psi, so today I am heading to a meeting. I love that playing D3 allows me to both participate in varsity sports and also have time to be a member of other social groups on campus.”
* Originally published on April 13, 2018, by Madeleine Lundberg
