Chase Your Dreams: 5 Steps to Athletic and Academic Success

You’re an athlete, which means the month of August most likely brings a huge smile to your face and a flutter to your heart. We know you’re as excited for the Olympic season as any other, a time when your role models and heroes show their skills in the very sport your life revolves around. And you’ll learn so much from their efforts as you watch them reach their goals. But, you may be left wondering how they got there. How did they make it, reach the gold? What’s behind the leaping, diving, running, and other amazing skills are years of physical and mental efforts and careful goal planning. How to chase your dreams and actually reach your goals isn’t just about how hard you practice, it’s about how hard you plan.

Chase Your Dreams Into Reality with These 5 Steps

Step 1: Visualize Your Dreams. When you chase your dreams you often spend long hours in the gym, on the field, and watching play video, and then there is school work and family time on top of that. Life can be tough and stressful, especially when you’re in school and have NCAA demands on top of a rigorous practice schedule. How do you push through the hard times and stay focused? Only by visualizing your goals will you be able to reach them. See yourself on the podium this summer when your favorite athlete, or their competitor, wins gold. See yourself making the final shot, the perfect dive, the perfect landing off of the beam. The more you see it, the more real it will be and the deeper you’ll be able to dig when the going gets tough.
Step 2: Write out your dreams and the steps you’ll need to take to get there. So, you can see yourself on the podium, but how are you going to get there? Chasing your dreams the smart way means running on a clear path. And good planning starts with writing it all down. Make a list of the specific goals you’ll need to reach, be it time, scores, or championships, that will help you to reach your dreams. Write them down and mark them off as you complete each one, remembering to set the bar higher and higher as you go. When you fail, and you will, go back to your list and think through what steps you may have missed that you can add. The key to staying focused is to know where you’re headed, so chart it out!
Step 3: Know the requirements. Being a champion is hard work, on and off of the field. If you want to be an elite athlete, you’ll need to meet NCAA requirements in high school. This means knowing exactly what’s required of you, from grades and courses to transcripts. Know what you need to accomplish for NCAA, and you can follow those guidelines to play your sport in college. Unsure of NCAA requirements, find out more here. And you don’t have to go it alone. An accredited homeschool partner  can help you ensure that you meet the bar NCAA sets every time.
Step 4: Work the right way. So you want to be a superstar on the field and in the classroom? Long hours training and practicing can leave little time for schoolwork and no time for friends and family. Homeschooling gives you freedom to chase your dreams and reaching your educational goals without having to sacrifice the flexibility you need to achieve them in your sport. And your work goes where you go! Find out more about accredited, flexible, and NCAA supported homeschooling here.
Step 5: Listen to good coaching. Your coach is in your corner, your biggest source of help and support outside of your parents. Let them help you in chasing your dreams. And, just like all good athletes need good coaches, all academic champions need academic coaches. Don’t carry all the stress and burdens of your academic future.  Allow an expert coach to help you reach your academic goals every step of the way. From grade reporting to college applications to algebra help, the Academic Advisors at Bridgeway Academy are there to guide and support you to pursue your excellence wherever it may lead you.

What are your athletic and academic hopes and dreams for the future?  Tell us in a comment below!