Succeeding as a student-athlete.

And why we encourage players to be students first!

Let’s be honest, being a student athlete is difficult. Balancing your season, school, training, social life, and a job (if you have one) can be quite the juggling act  at any level. For example, here is a typical schedule for a football player attending a Canadian University:

– Breakfast – 8-8:30am
– Class – 9am-2pm
– Lunch – 2pm-2:30pm
– Meetings – 3:45-5:45
– Practice – 6-8pm
– Meetings – 8:15-9pm
– Dinner – 9:15-9:45pm

*Keep in mind, this doesn’t include studying, cooking, working out/training, commuting, socializing, or travelling for away games.

The purpose of sharing this information isn’t to scare anyone, but rather to illustrate some realities of life as a student athlete. As a student athlete, you have the same academic expectations and deadlines as every other student with no exceptions or special treatment. We must find a way to succeed in our academic and athletic careers under these circumstances.

Why academic success is important.

It can be easy to undermine the importance of academic success especially when we are also so focused on our athletic success, sometimes we can fall into the trap of having a ‘football first’ mentality. It is safe to say that everyone reading this has been told that school is important a thousand times. So rather than just tell you, here are a few facts based on research:
– A one-point increase in high school GPA  has been shown to almost double the probability that an adolescent boy or girl will someday complete a college degree.
– A one-point increase in a person’s high school GPA has been shown to  increase average annual earnings in adulthood by about 13%.
– Here are the average minimum grades you needed to get into the following University of Calgary faculties in 2018, keep in mind that most of these averages have gone up since:
-Arts: 70-78%   -Commerce: 82%  -Engineering: 85%  – Science: 78-90% – Kinesiology: 80-85%
As demonstrated above, your grades in high school will have a major effect not only on what you can take in University, but also how likely you are to finish University and have a successful career.
It is also important to understand that while professional football is a great goal, it is very difficult to get to that level, and the average professional football career is 3 years. This is why it is vital to prioritize your career outside of football. Check out the statistics below:

Keys to success as a student athlete.

– Focus on your WHY! Remember WHY it is important to YOU to succeed in school. If you have an idea of what you want your career outside of football to be, then focus on that. If you do not, then focus on keeping all options open for your future self.
– Write down your GOALS! Whether you’re in middle school, high school or college, write down your long term and short term goals.
– PLAN!  Write out a game plan of how you’re going to execute your goals. We recommend using an agenda or a calendar to plan out your months, weeks and days, prioritizing your time to include studying, working out, cooking etc.
– EXECUTE! Now it is time to execute your plan. Stay focused and trust the process!


At RAW, whether we are working with our fire ants or our high school players, we use football as a vehicle to teach players essential life skills and lessons that will help them have success in school and other areas of their life.

Applications are now open for RAW summer camps in a variety of locations across BC and Alberta including: Calgary, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Edmonton, Kelowna, and Abbotsford. Programs are available for Pre Atom, Atom, Peewee, Bantam, and High School age groups with options for your preferred position. Camps have ranging start dates through June and July, with ranging lengths.

Spaces fill quickly, so secure a spot for your athlete today!

Explore all RAW Sports Summer Programs

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Our new registration process makes signing up for a camp of your choice easier than ever – even if you have multiple athletes who will be attending camps this summer. Less paperwork, and less time lost on day one means more time for football.

If you have questions about RAW Sports camps this summer, or need any assistance with your registration, please Contact Us and we can help you as soon as possible.

Interested in financial assistance for youth sports? Learn more about support programs offered by Jump Start Canada and KidSport Canada.