Take Up a Sport and Become Good at it
This is a guest post from the blogger behind Studenomics, a personal finance blog that offers common sense advice for college students and recent graduates. Studenomics is the ultimate resource for young people looking for advice on how to survive this current recession, grow their careers, manage their finances, and still be able to enjoy the weekends.
We all want to have a productive summer but we just don’t know where to start. Here’s a little secret: you can start by reading The Summer of George- The Most Productive Summer a College Student Will Ever Have.
Remember right before the Summer of George begins and he stumbles into the guys playing frolf (frisbee golf) in the park? Costanza plays one game and he gets all excited about how he will spend his summer learning how to play frolf and then that could not be further from what actually happens. This post may not have a whole lot to do with personal finance but the point of this series is to help young people have a highly productive summer.
Obviously I’m not trying to recommend frolf as a summer sport for everyone but I’m sure all of you have a sport in mind that you have always wanted to play. For me this sport is Mixed Martial Arts and for the past few weeks I have been training 5 days a week to learn the sport.
Please don’t fall prey for the two most common excuses: no money and no time because there is a solution for both.
The no money excuse. If you can’t afford to pay for professional training then simply don’t get professional training. First of all there are plenty of free tutorial videos available online (what would our generation do without You Tube?) and practice makes perfect. If you can’t organize a group of your friends to play soccer one afternoon then go towards a major park in your area and join in on a casual game. You will get to meet new people, practice, and improve your skills.
The no time excuse. The excuse of having no time is a self imposed restriction used as an excuse for procrastination. I can maybe count on one hand the amount of college students that I actually know that don’t have any time at all to spare during the summer. We all have at least an extra hour a day where we can sneak in some sort of physical activity. The trick is to figure out how we can play this sport with our free time. I figured out that I could sneak in a kickboxing class in the mornings since I have been working evenings lately. A couple of summers ago when I was into golf (not frolf) I would wake up really early and go to the park to tee off a little so that no one would see my embarrassing swings. Whatever the sport is you can always sneak in an extra hour or so to improve your skills.
What other ways do you think you can afford a new sport?
Please enjoy the rest of the series:
Summer of George Introduction @ Studenomics.com
Learn a New Language @ TotalCandor.com
Help Your Local Church @ GatherLittleByLittle.com
Take Some College Courses This Summer @ PoorerThanYou.com
Summer Jobs With Little Startup Funding Required- Part 1 @ MoneyNing.com
Summer Jobs With Little Startup Funding Required- Part 2 @ PTMoney.com
Take Control Of Your Financial Situation @ Bargaineering.com
Work Abroad This Summer @ CashMoneyLife.com
Enjoy Cheap Summer Activities @ MoneySmartLife.com
Personally, I’m rather fond of swimming. I have a spouse card at the university where my husband is working on his PhD, and I can lap swim (or do anything else — classes, racket ball, tennis, workout in the fitness center, etc. in the PE building) for $40 a semester. THAT’S some good savings.
Miranda’s last blog post..Krugman: No V-Shaped Recession
@ Miranda – That is an awesome deal! We have a few universities by us and we’ve considered joining their gyms. Hasn’t worked out for us to join but it’s on our radar. We did have our daughter enrolled in swim classes at the school.
I love frolf. I didn’t realize until ecently it was so big. At the local Dicks there is a section devoted to it. The have drivers, short range, and putter frisbies!
Back in college I spent my summers working and taking classes, but I also played basketball at my school gym. Good I was not, productive I was!
The Weakonomist’s last blog post..Review: 10,001 Ways To Live Large On A Small Budget
@ Weakonomist – Dick’s is one place my wife doesn’t like me to go to! To much to shop for!! A school gym is a great spot for a frugal workout. You can probably find people who will give you training advice for close to nothing as well.
Hahaha, I know what you’re talking about, but I’ve never heard it referred to as “frolf!”
In the spring of my freshman year, I learned badminton. I took the class as one half of my required health and fitness credits. I really wish I had spent the summer practicing, because now I’ve forgotten many of the rules and I’m not very good at it anymore. It would be nice to excel at one sport! 😉
Stephanie PTY’s last blog post..Take Some College Courses This Summer
@ Stephanie – It’s never too late to take it up again!
I have been enjoying hiking lately and have been hitting the gym more frequently. However if I had a bit more time during the day I might look into taking up a martial art as well. Then again I always justify not doing things by saying I do not have time. The truth is that I just do not make the time – you make a good point: There is almost always an hour somewhere during the day you can use for a hobby.
Thanks for the post!
Matt @ My Financial Recovery’s last blog post..Thoughts On An Inconvenient Truth
@ Matt – Hiking is great! There’s are so many parks by me with great trails. Very tranquil when you live in the city. And yes, you can always find some time.