15 Things You Need To Know Before Dating A College Athlete
We don’t really know how to dress for dates—do we rock the t-shirt and jeans (that’s basically dressing up since all we wear is sweats), or do we go all out since we always look like we’re headed to the gym?!! Unanswered questions.
1. You don’t need to be ripped…necessarily…but you should know what a gym is, and have at least stepped in one once or twice.
2. You need to have a basic understanding of our sport. AKA: Basketball = shooting a BALL in a HOOP and it’s called a BASKET. (Not a goal.)
3. We don’t really know how to dress for dates—do we rock the t-shirt and jeans (that’s basically dressing up since all we wear is sweats), or do we go all out since we always look like we’re headed to the gym?!! Unanswered questions.
4. We prefer NEED a set schedule. We run on practice/game/sleep schedules pretty much 99% of the time, and this helps us keep our lives in order. So when you ask us out, for the love of God, give us a time and date.
5. We’re goal-oriented people. And if you want to date us, you should have some future plans.
6. We can’t be with someone who’s going to be mad that we’re always working out or at practice. #SorryNotSorry It’s the lifestyle.
7. If you don’t have a somewhat busy schedule (or understand our busy schedules) then it’s just not going to work.
8. Dating, from our perspectives, is similar to our sport. There’s a strategy, there are goals, and we play with our heart.
9. We can’t date someone who hits the snooze button 15 times before getting up for work because we’re still traumatized from that one time we showed up late to morning weights and had to run suicides for an hour straight and then do a bazillion burpees afterwards because we stopped to puke.
10. If you’re taking us out, you better make sure we don’t have practice the next morning.
11. As much as you beg, we’re not going out drinking with you the night before a game. (And no, we won’t be your resident DD either).
12. We value our quiet, relaxed, lay-in-bed-and-cuddle-after-a-long-day time and we need someone who’s not always trying to party. But we’ll totally party with you too, when it’s not breaking the 48-hour rule.
13. As a significant other, you’re expected to be at our games, or at least ask us how they went.
14. We are extremely sensitive at times, especially post-loss. So don’t take it personally or get on our case about it.
15. And the golden rule, never, under any circumstances say, “it’s just a game.” 
Marisa Donnelly is a poet and author of the book, Somewhere on a Highway, available here.
