It's a brisk Saturday morning on College Hill. All around campus, trash cans are overflowing with red cups and beer cans, hinting at the shenanigans that took place the night before. The typical Brunonian is likely either sleeping off the ill effects of said shenanigans or just waking up, ready to take on a new day. But Sean Connauton '11 is not your typical Brunonian.
As an intercollegiate athlete who plays both hockey and golf, he's already well into his first practice and shows no sign of slowing down.
With the increase in specialization that has come to define the modern sporting world, the multiple-sport athlete is a dying breed. Long ago, it was fairly common for individuals like Jim Thorpe — who played baseball, basketball, football and track and field — to play multiple sports not only at the varsity level, but also professionally.
Today, however, a combination of rigorous practice schedules and an increase in intercollegiate competitiveness has made it more difficult for athletes to excel without devoting all of their time to a single athletic endeavor.
"Playing soccer definitely hinders my abilities in swimming," said Bridget Ballard '10, a member of the swimming and soccer teams. "I know I'm not as good as I could be."
So why do multiple-sport athletes do it?
The answer to that is simple enough: they love both sports too much to pick between them. Connauton, originally recruited just to play hockey at Brown, "couldn't help but feel that something was missing without golf."
"Hockey and golf have been such a huge part of my life for so long that I can't choose between them," he added. "They're both just too important to me, and I didn't want to regret not doing both the sports I loved."
Ballard, a recruited soccer player — who upon completing her freshman year at Brown decided to swim again — felt the same way.
"I'm an athlete, and I've been an athlete forever," she said. "Every season was always spent doing something competitive, and having the time off freshman year where I wasn't competing just wasn't fun. I didn't enjoy life as much."
Both Ballard and Connauton also mentioned that adding their second sport actually helped them with their primary sport in some ways.
"I definitely think there are lots of similarities between golf and hockey that I can draw upon to help with my hockey," Connauton said. "I would say that just learning to hit a golf ball helped me with my slap shot a lot technique-wise. Also, the mental aspect of golf — taking the game one hole at a time — helped me approach hockey with a similar mentality so that bad shifts wouldn't affect my game."
Ballard said she felt swimming's low-impact cardio training helped keep her in shape for soccer without forcing her to "endure the pounding associated with running and playing soccer."
Still, the commitment and difficulty associated with doing two such time-intensive activities on top of a full class schedule does take its toll, the athletes said.
"It's a lot of work," Connauton said, "And I'm always pretty busy with practices, games, homework and classes. It can be a lot to have on one plate."
Meghan Earley '13, a member of the swimming and water polo teams, also found the commitment-juggling aspect of playing sports difficult at first, but found that it got much easier once the competitive season started.
"When I'm in season, I find that I manage my time much better even though I have less of it because I'm just so much more focused," she said.
But despite the struggles of playing two sports, the athletes said they can always count on the support of their coaches and teammates.
"They're definitely very supportive of me," Connauton said. "They know that when I'm at the rink, I'm giving 100 percent to hockey, and when I'm at the golf course, I'm giving 100 percent to golf. They appreciate my devotion."
After hockey practice finishes up that brisk Saturday morning, Connauton packs up and heads to the library to crank out work before hitting some balls at the range. There's no rest for the weary, but Sean Connauton wouldn't have it any other way.
