Colby Kyle, Emily Garner & Milana Malec

Episode seven of Earning Our Stripes is a departure from the usual activity as I interviewed former, rather than current Princeton athletes, Colby, Emily, and Milana. Interviewing former student athletes gave me a unique insight into the transition away from collegiate athletics and for what reasons their decisions were made. I am very grateful to these three for giving up their time to speak to me about what can be a very sensitive topic. I hope that you enjoy this episode which was another of my favourites to record.

What We Talked About and Why it Matters

This episode of Earning Our Stripes was particularly interesting as I was able to interview three people with experience of being both student athletes and non-student athletes at Princeton. Colby left the Men’s basketball team after his lung collapsed twice in his sophomore year. This story is an unfortunate reality for many student athletes and it speaks to the necessity of excellent medical care and attention for treating student athletes. Milana and Emily decided to cease their relationship with the Track and Field team based on wanting to prioritise their mental health. In all three cases these were the predominant reasons these athletes had for leaving their team, however they are by no means the only. Asking the three of them to contrast their time as student athletes at Princeton with their current identity as non-athletes lead me to this observation; Colby, Emily, and Milana each quit for their own reasons, but all described the shift away from day to day athletic commitments to purely academic as a huge change in the amount of  unstructured time they have available to them.

I think it is also important to acknowledge the fact that all three of these students had aimed to compete in their sports at college long before they were accepted to Princeton. This fact even forced modifications in their behaviour at school functions, and a hyper awareness surrounding the bounds of behaviour that could have led to the revocation of NCAA eligibility and possible scholarship money at institutions where it is offered. Once again, we see that the NCAA and its commitment to amateur athletics has the power to influence and regulate people actively part of the organisation as well as those who are not.