Being a student athlete is definitely not an easy task where you have to have a good balance of maintaining your school and social life while also missing a lot of both to play the game you love.
Josh Loren, who grew up in North Liberty, and played at Clear Creek Amana High School currently plays baseball at Kirkwood Community College as a freshman. “Being a student athlete teaches you a lot of skills you can use later on in life like time management,” said Loren.
He said a big part about being a student athlete is being able to manage time, stay caught up with homework and have a social life. “Monday, Wednesday and Thursday the baseball team holds a study time at 7 a.m. which really helps me stay caught up in my classes,” Loren stated.
In addition to the benefits, there are also challenges. “The biggest challenge for me and a lot of student athletes is mental health,” said Loren. “Mental health is a big problem with student athletes. A lot of kids base their mental health on how they perform and it really gets to some athletes.”
On the team, Loren is a PO, which means “pitcher only.” He said one of his goals is “to be able to touch 90 MPH whenever I want.”
He added that being able to reach your short term and long-term goals is very good for your mental health and it can boost your self-esteem a lot more than you think even if it is the smallest achievement. “Davenport Assumption, sophomore year. I faced the best hitting offense in the state of Iowa. It did not go too well where I gave up 14 runs in the first inning and it taught me that you can’t control everything, and also taught me how to battle back from adversity,” said Loren.
Loren added that even though it was his worst performance, it helped him become who he is today.
Categories: Sports
