Ohio University’s rule that all students must live in residential housing for two years forces some student-athletes to intermingle with and live alongside students who do not play sports.
On-campus housing has upsides and downsides for student-athletes, who normally room with teammates but share living space with regular students.
Even though they take the same classes, earn the same degrees and have common interests, a student-athlete’s agenda might be different than a normal student’s.
Athletes are constantly studying with their respective teams at study tables, training, practicing or playing games. Athletes also travel extensively.
All of these factors do not allow athletes much free time to spend in the on-campus living quarters.
“It’s hard to manage my time, but I still like living in the dorms,” track-and-field athlete Rachel Arnott said. “I spend most of my time with all my teammates; it’s nice to be able to live with people who don’t play a sport.”
All of Ohio University’s sports facilities are located on or near West Green, so freshman and sophomore athletes are normally placed in one of the green’s eight residence halls. This not only provides a common living environment for athletes, but it also makes life easier with short walks to team events.
Being an athlete also allows some students to experience entirely different lifestyles than most regular college students. Sometimes athletes are viewed as celebrities, even though they live in the same situations as the rest of their peers.
This difference in perception can be hard for athletes, some of whom think students are afraid to approach them or judge them because of the stardom they receive.
“I feel like the fact I play for the football team makes people judge me,” Ohio football player Larenzo Fisher said. “I do play football, but I’m still the same kid as everyone else that lives in the dorm. We’re all college kids.”
Fisher’s neighbor in James Hall, James Massara, enjoys living next to Fisher and his two other roommates on the football team.
“I think they are the same type of neighbor as anyone else would be. I don’t think anything different of them,” Massara said. “They aren’t around much because of practice and road trips, so we have to sign for packages, but they’re the same as the rest of us.”
Though schedules and lifestyles differ between student-athletes and students, each person has to live on campus for two years, and the two groups learn to coexist.
cl027410@ohiou.edu
