{"id":1186,"date":"2019-05-22T18:08:16","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T18:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vpms1.humber.smartmanagedservers.com\/sweatmag\/?p=1186"},"modified":"2019-05-22T18:23:36","modified_gmt":"2019-05-22T18:23:36","slug":"life-as-a-dual-sport-athlete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/life-as-a-dual-sport-athlete\/","title":{"rendered":"Life as a Dual-Sport Athlete: Rachel Streekstra"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Danielle Blumentrath<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to college athletes, it\u2019s no secret they have a full plate. Committing to a college sport comes with the pressure of juggling classes, practices, workouts, often a job and maybe even fitting in a social life. Now, imagine playing another sport on top of it all. Although it is rare, some student athletes make the decision to take on a second sport at the college level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rachel Streekstra is one of those rare dual-sport athletes from Loyalist college who has dedicated her time to playing two varsity sports, rugby and volleyball, while in post-secondary education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Rachel Streekstra carefully balances rugby and volleyball and academics at Loyalist. (Loyalist College)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The first-year athlete has been playing both sports for over five years and her passion drives her to continue competing at the college level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Streekstra is from Toledo, Ontario, an hour north of Kingston, and said she has always loved playing competitive volleyball, but was inspired by her high school coach who introduced her to playing rugby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have never been pushed harder. He taught me the game, the\nmeaning of being a student-athlete and the meaning of working hard,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when it came to tryouts at Loyalist College, it was a no brainer that Rachel would pursue the two sports she loves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most first-year students the pressure of navigating college includes finding balance between schoolwork, a new living arrangement and meeting new friends. However, for Streekstra, most of her time is dedicated to her academics and both rugby and volleyball.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not even going to lie to you some nights I would just go home and not even make it to my bed. I\u2019d just lay on the floor.”<\/p>– Rachel Streekstra, Rugby and Volleyball player at Loyalist<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

 Coming into college she planned on trying out for both teams, and while Rachel said, \u201cthis has been an amazing year and I wouldn\u2019t change playing two sports for anything,\u201d the year didn\u2019t come without the exhausting and sometimes overwhelming pressures many student-athletes experience at times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cI\u2019m not even going to lie\nto you some nights I would just go home and not even make it to my bed. I\u2019d\njust lay on the floor and not going to lie I cried. Because I\u2019d either be so\nmentally and physically exhausted or stressed.\u201d Streekstra said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the student-athlete admits there were some challenging times\nmanaging it all throughout the seasons, she could not imagine not playing both\nsports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHonestly sometimes, I think every athlete has a point where they question if it\u2019s worth it. But then when you\u2019re running down a field and no one\u2019s able to touch you, and you get that try (rugby) or get that kill or big stuff (volleyball) you remember that this is why it\u2019s worth it and why you love it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For Rachel it\u2019s her passion for competition that drives her to play both sports while in school. \u201cIt\u2019s very busy, which I absolutely love,\u201d she said. She believes attending a smaller school has been a contributing factor towards the support she\u2019s received throughout the year. \u201cBecause we\u2019re a small school, we know everyone here and there\u2019s a lot of support. Even the amount of people you know just from being a varsity athlete is pretty crazy,\u201d Streekstra said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Not only does the help of\nfellow athletes play a role in a successful year for this dual-sport athlete,\nshe also attributes her success to the support received from both her rugby and\nvolleyball coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cBoth were really great.\nThey knew being a dual-sport athlete takes up so much time and dedication. I\nhad to sacrifice a lot of things. Instead of hanging out with friends, I was at\nthe gym training or at practice or I was studying because I didn\u2019t have that\ntime that other people had during the week nights,\u201d Streekstra said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 While the seasons for both\nsports are relatively separate, there is a month of overlap between the end of\nrugby season and the first few games of the volleyball season. Head volleyball\ncoach, Dominique Dawes has coached many dual-sport athletes throughout her career\nand believes the way to set any athlete up for success is through clear\ncommunication from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe number one thing is\ncommunication, it is extremely important not only with the athlete but with the\ncoaches,\u201d Dawes said. She also checked in on Streekstra\u2019s health before\npractices and made sure all the other girls on the volleyball team knew Rachel\nwas a dual-sport athlete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Dawes said the girls on her\nteam were all extremely supportive. They even went out to most home rugby games\nas a group to support Streekstra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 While Streekstra\u2019s passion\nis for rugby and volleyball, she is also excited about the paramedic program\nshe is taking in school. While her love for both sports gives her joy, she is\nalso focused on her dream of being a flight paramedic. She is learning that\neven though she is making personal sacrifices, she is still achieving her\ncurrent and long term goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cI didn\u2019t mind making\nsacrifices because I know my other teammates were making them and I wanted to\nget better and be better,\u201d she said. \u201cThe school also really supported me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In terms of the coach\u2019s\nrole in supporting dual-sport athletes, Dawes understands that some of the\nresponsibility is on her to check in with the athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cChecking base with the\nother coach to see how she is doing was important. Sometimes there are those\nathletes that are really gung-hoe and want to give it 100 percent, but you\nreally can\u2019t. You will burn out. So, monitoring them is very important as a coach\nto these athletes and I like to think I took the pressure off for her,\u201d Dawes\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  While the life of a\ndual-sport athlete can come with sacrifices, there is no hesitation from the\ncoaches to allow these athletes to participate in both sports. \u201cThink about\nathletes that battle so much worse things. If this is their outlet, I didn\u2019t\nwant to have to make her choose or stop her from pursuing her passions,\u201d Dawes\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Being physically active is\nreally good for students and she believes it is important to follow careers and\nsports you are passionate about. Therefore, Dawes said when it came to\nperformance time, because Rachel knew she had a choice, she was able to take\ncare of herself accordingly and, \u201cshe knew we had her back,\u201d said Dawes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Now almost at the end of\nher first year, when asked if she would do it all again, Rachel said without\nhesitation, \u201ceven when I go back to school after my two-year program, I plan to\nplay at least one sport. So, you\u2019ll see me in the OCAA for a little bit!\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Her volleyball coach has\nthe same positivity and described this year as fantastic. \u201cAs a first-year\nathlete coming in, I would think she loved her first year. I supported her and\nI\u2019m proud of her. She did a fantastic job,\u201d \nDawes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Rachel\u2019s passion was the driving force to\ncompete on two sports teams.  Although,\nat times, it was overwhelming this student-athlete would not change her\nexperience and plans on doing it again next year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rachel Streekstra is one of those rare dual-sport athletes from Loyalist college who has dedicated her time to playing two varsity sports, rugby and volleyball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":1188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1.jpg",658,879,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1-160x160.jpg",160,160,true],"medium":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1-640x855.jpg",640,855,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1.jpg",658,879,false],"large":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1.jpg",658,879,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1.jpg",658,879,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1.jpg",658,879,false],"td_150x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1-150x200.jpg",150,200,true],"td_218x150":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1-218x150.jpg",218,150,true],"td_300x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1-300x401.jpg",300,401,true],"td_324x400":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1-324x400.jpg",324,400,true],"td_485x360":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1-485x360.jpg",485,360,true],"td_696x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1.jpg",658,879,false],"td_1068x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1.jpg",658,879,false],"td_1920x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/IMG_4669-web-1.jpg",658,879,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Mar Greig","author_link":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/author\/marleegreig\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Rachel Streekstra is one of those rare dual-sport athletes from Loyalist college who has dedicated her time to playing two varsity sports, rugby and volleyball.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1186"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1195,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186\/revisions\/1195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}