Being a student-athlete is no simple feat. Tremendous amounts of skill and dedication go into playing a D1 sport, the highest amateur level an athlete can compete in. To gain more insight into the life of one of these players, we took a walk to the Al Mcguire Center to interview Marquette Women’s Soccer player Shelby Fountain. Fountain is just beginning her Marquette career as a Freshman forward as number eleven on the field.
Compared to a typical college student, Shelby’s daily routine proved to be drastically different. A typical day for her during the season begins at 8 o’clock in the morning where she heads to Valley Fields for a two-hour practice. Shelby then heads to the locker room and quickly showers and gets ready for her day of classes that typically start at 11. As a DC native, Fountain is pursuing a degree in Political Science at Marquette. Growing up in such a politically active and impactful area, she has always had an interest in the field. After class, she has a team lifting session then heads to the Eagle’s Nest in the Al Mcguire center to complete a portion of her six mandatory study hours per week.
When playing in the highest division of collegiate sports, it undoubtedly can be a challenge to handle the pressure of both athletics and academic life. Even though she is only finishing her sixth week of school at Marquette, she sometimes finds it stressful to balance academics and soccer. It is October, which means bi-weekly games are in full swing. Shelby explains that away games are the biggest struggle, with keeping up missed classes and assignments. She overcomes this difficulty by asking for help when she needs it from upperclassmen and athletic academic advisors. Fountain elaborates that her greatest weakness is time management, so it is helpful to be on a tight schedule that assists her in staying on top of her goals.
Her connection with the athletic advisors and coaching staff was one of the top reasons Shelby decided to commit to Marquette’s program over other colleges interested in her. Along with this, she saw great opportunities to succeed in both academics and athletics. Being in a city like Milwaukee was also an added bonus for her when signing to Marquette.
Fountain left her Maryland high school Senior year to pursue athletics at a well-known boarding school in Florida by the name of IMG Academy. She explained although due to transfer, the transition from high school to college was not that difficult. Despite this, she does notice a sizable difference between playing soccer at these two levels. Collegiate level soccer is much more demanding. Coaches expect you to be on top of your game every day, and there is no room for errors such as tardiness or missing a practice or game. So far she has learned that being on such a high-level team means the highest level of teamwork. She explains that although it takes a whole team to win, it also takes a whole team to lose.