The conceptual framework covers the structure and variables of a student-athlete’s time management, with the variables being the performance or involvement, and the affecting factors.
The first variable involves the performance/involvement of a student athlete and splits it into the three sub-variables, namely the academic works extracurricular activities, and sport activities/athletics. Extracurricular activities are generally considered as voluntary activities, mainly because they can be directed by the school faculty or the student itself. Tariq (2018) claims in his research that participation in out-of-school activities help develop students brain contributing to better mental health. It also helps them fortify their academic performance for a long period of time and can also reduce behavioral and disciplinary problems.
Athletics is often defined as an exercise, sport, or games engaged in by athletes, and can be indirectly considered as an extracurricular activity because it is dependent on the student whether he or she chooses to participate and it can also take up their time as well. According to the MU Health Care (n.d.), sports require memorization, repetition and learning — skillsets that are directly relevant to class work. Also, the determination and goal-setting skills a sport requires can be transferred to the classroom.
The next sub-variable under the Performance/Involvement variable is the academic works, wherein it focuses on the school given activities such as projects, written works, assignments and other tasks. This is often the main activity of every student and is the source of their education. Usually student-athletes try to balance both their school works and sport practices in order to maintain proper grades in their subjects. There is often a running statement that athletics tend to distract student-athletes from completing their academic school works.
The second major variable is the affecting factors, wherein there is a conflict with the student-athlete’s way of properly assessing and managing their time in order to balance both their academics and sport activities. Under the affecting factors are schedule conflict and practices. As Dijk (2015) stated in an article about student athletes balancing sports and academics, a major conflict that occurs for student athletes is finding classes that do not conflict with practice schedules. Practices are a must in order for an athlete to properly excel in sports, making it similar to academics needing the student to be properly educated and active in order for them to pass their subjects with flying colors.
