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Sideline Stories "Getting grades back and seeing a positive result after all that (preparation) should be celebrated with a trophy just like winning a big game."

This is Sideline Stories. A platform where NE10 student-athletes can share their collegiate experiences in an unfiltered environment - using their voices to promote growth and positive change in our league and in all of NCAA Division II athletics.

Sarah Bodzinski, a 2019 Assumption graduate and alum of the field hockey program, is currently a law student at Western New England University. She didn't realize until after she graduated how much her time at Assumption would impact her future career. This is her Sideline Story:

Bodzinski played goalkeeper for four years at Assumption.

Navigating law school is a lot like the game of field hockey, which is a sentence I never thought I would write.

When I hung up my helmet and put away my stick for the last time in 2018, I thought that would be the end of it and I would be able to neatly package that era of my life, put it away, and move onto my next endeavor.

However, I never knew how much my experience with the Assumption field hockey program would impact my success in the coming year and how thankful I would be for it in my academic career.

Bodzinski (far right) with teammates during Assumption's picture day in 2016.

First was forming and finding my team. The competitive nature and scale grading of law school causes students to band together and form small study groups; us against others who are like-minded, who share interests and passions. It is much like playing against another team in the conference.

They are friends later on in life and off the field, but first your fiercest competitors and rivals. Your team, your study group, are the people who celebrate your achievements with you and pick you up when you hit rock bottom.

They are there for every good grade, every library breakdown, and every rejection email from a summer internship. Much like your teammates, they are there for every exhilarating upset, every heartbreaking overtime loss, and every painful injury.

Assumption celebrating 2015 NE10 semifinals win against Merrimack.

Next are the hours of preparation. Before each class, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes unnoticed and can make or break your in-class performance if a professor cold calls you. Being under prepared leads to embarrassment. Over preparation leads to success and a rush of relief when your professor finally decides to move on and take you off of the hot seat.

Cold calls, I noticed, are much like a one versus one. Carefully scrutinizing your opponent’s movements and discovering their playing patterns through hours of film, thinking three moves ahead of them, and trusting your instinct by taking a dive of faith.

In class, it’s analyzing your professors’ silence as they look down at the seating chart and discovering patterns in their methods, anticipating questions that they may ask you, and confidently committing to an answer at the risk of failure.

Sitting at a desk for hours hunched over a thousand-page textbook and taking notes, however, is a very different type of grueling than sprinting until you’ve run out of breath and doing reps until you’re exhausted.

Bodzinski made 318 saves and recorded 17 shutouts in her career at Assumption.

Exams are the championship game, played over and over again until the end of a grueling two weeks. Weeks of minuscule wins and losses lead up to it, building until the big moment where everything is make-or-break.

When a single exam worth 80%-100% of your grade determines whether you pass or fail, the pressure is on. My method of preparation before an exam was subconsciously nearly identical to what I did before a big game: joke around with my study group or my teammates and help each other out last-minute with complex concepts.

We also meticulously go through rituals and blindly follow superstitions, prepare for weeks and hours a day leading up to it, blast music as loud as I could in my headphones to get my adrenaline going, and cram some last-minute preparation in.

In my opinion, getting grades back and seeing a positive result after all that should be celebrated with a trophy just like winning a big game.

Assumption qualified for the NE10 Tournament all four years that Bodzinski was with the program.

I decided to share these thoughts that I’ve written down a plethora of times and in just as many different ways because I need you to know that being a student-athlete is worth every minute and will benefit you in the future, whatever path you decide to take with your career. Put your whole being into the experience and you will reap the rewards tenfold in your career.

My experience with the Assumption field hockey program gave me the skills that I have now which make me a successful law student and will make me a successful lawyer.

"In my opinion, getting grades back and seeing a positive result after all that should be celebrated with a trophy just like winning a big game."

I learned how to form tight bonds with others and work together seamlessly; to be diligent in my studies and put the work in when nobody is watching; to be fiercely competitive and not see failure as an option, while most importantly performing under pressure and having the courage to keep going and improve in the face of adversity.

I cannot be more thankful for everything that being a student-athlete gave to me and continues to give me each day. Every single minute was worth it.

- Sarah Bodzinski

Bodzinski was a political science major at Assumption and a native of Southwick, Mass.

Credits:

Assumption Athletics