Dating an Athlete: Is It Worth It?

In an effort to understand relationships and how they work, I am going to start a relationship series. For the first piece, I decided to focus on relationships with an athlete. The inspiration for this particular topic came while flipping through channels a couple nights ago. I noticed that on about three channels were shows that portrayed either an athlete looking for love, or a woman’s perspective while dating/married to an athlete. While watching these shows a thought occurred to me, “Why would anyone pursue a relationship with an athlete?” The things some of these women went through, even as a guy, I just had to ask why. It seemed that huge sacrifices had to be made, on the woman’s side, in order for the relationship to even have a chance. The fact that your partner would be on the road constantly seems like it would pay a heavy toll on both parties. The trust factor would definitely have to be high. I decided to go to a primary source on this one. I have a friend, B.K, who has been in a relationship with an athlete for quite a while. I wanted to get her opinion on dating an athlete


-So talking with some people, they feel like college relationships are a waste of time. How do you feel about them in general?


-“I feel that as long as the two people are compatible then it is fine. College relationships can be a big support system.”


-Do you feel like a relationship could be a distraction at all?


-“Yes, especially if you have other important things in your life like demanding jobs or school.


-How do you manage that distraction and keep it healthy?


-“Im lucky because I can study last minute and still do well for the most part. Most of the time though, I end up choosing the relationship over anything else I have to do.


-Any advice as to how to keep the relationship from becoming too big of a distraction/



-“Just make sure you get your priorities straight. You should be able to realize when things are failing and getting to the point where they need to be fixed and focused on more and do that.”



-How is it dating an athlete?


-Honestly, the biggest problem is the sport. He has practice every day, games all the time, he has to meet 3 hours before the game and stay after for meetings. It takes up a lot of time. It goes back to choosing the relationship over a lot of other things because if I don’t, I may not ever see him.”


-How would you advise people to go about that?


-“You just have to make sure you have someone that is willing to make it work. If he didn’t try to see you, it wouldn’t work. You have to gauge how important that relationship is. Do not force them to choose between the two. That person has to be able to tell you they are going to choose. We were dating before baseball ever became serious, so there were already feelings there. That gave us both more incentive to work on a relationship.”


-Would you say you sort of faded into the background?


-“Yes I would, but me knowing that and accepting that makes the relationship better.”


-What about dating a guy who attends another school, does that affect anything?


-“Not really in our case since we’re in the same city, but if you’re in different cities or states I can see how that would affect a relationship. If you could make it thought, that says a lot about you.”


-What would you say to the person out there that feels like he/she has to been in a relationship?


-“Don’t. The person that feels that way would be more likely to jump into an unhealthy relationship, more likely to settle for anything, and more likely to get used.”


-Do you have any other advice out there for people who may be in your situation but don’t know how to handle it?



-“If you’re not willing to compromise the relationship is going nowhere. And Yelling doesn’t help!”