A nursing student-athlete interview with…Addison Wallace

Q.     What do you love about your sport?  

The one thing I love about soccer is that it requires a team mentality in order to win and have success. Unlike other individual sports, soccer requires that all eleven players be on the same page and work together to achieve one goal and that is to win. This relates to nursing because nursing requires endless amounts of teamwork in order to achieve one common goal of protecting and taking care of our patients.

Q.     What would surprise people about your sport or how you execute?   

One thing that would surprise people about my sport is that we are the first team to check in for the fall season, which means we usually come 3 weeks before school even starts for our preseason.

Q.     What are you most proud of in terms of personal or team accomplishments?

The one thing I am most proud of is being named part of the Big East All-Academic Team throughout my four years of playing, while being a nursing student.

Q.     How would you describe the time commitment?

Being a student athlete is a huge time commitment. A typical week for a student athlete involves 20 hours of practice plus competing. In addition, during season we travel for all away trips at least a day before a game, which means we miss class often. In between all these hours, we also find time to write papers, study for exams, and even try to sneak in naps when we can.

Q. What characteristics does someone needs to be a successful nursing student-athlete?

In order to be a successful nursing student-athlete, you need to be disciplined, organized, have a strong work ethic, and a strong sense of focus. With being a student-athlete, you commit 20 hours a week to competing and practicing on top of traveling to away trips, which means that you have to be extremely organized and disciplined to study and do assignments whenever you get spare time.

Q. What are your biggest challenges as a nursing student-athlete?  

One of the biggest challenges I faced of being a nursing student-athlete was working with my coaches to have the practice time be altered around my clinical schedules. Unfortunately, my coach only allowed us to practice during the morning, which conflicted with my clinicals, so I would have to do all extra practices and workouts on my own on top of attending classes and studying for exams.

Q. Where do you find your inspiration as either an athlete or nursing student?  

The inspiration I find for being a nursing student and athlete is that I can be a role model for others. One thing I’ve learned from being in clinical is that every day we, as nurses, can make a difference in somebody’s life.  As nurses we have an amazing opportunity to talk to patients every day and show them compassion and empathy.  By taking the time to talk to patients, we not only make an impact on their lives, but they too impact our own and that is inspiration enough to want to become a nurse.

Q.     What do you want to do with your nursing career?  

As I look forward into my nursing career, I am hoping to eventually go back to graduate school to become a nurse anesthetist.

Q.     What advice would you give an incoming nursing student-athlete?  

The advice that I would give an incoming nursing student-athlete is to just stay focused on your goals. As a nursing student-athlete, there are going to be days or even weeks where it’s chaotic, you’re struggling to get assignments done or study, and you may just wonder if it’s even worth it, but just remember that you will get through it and just take it day by day. In the end your goal is to become a nurse, so if you stay focused, you can do just that.

Q.  Anything else you want to share

Just enjoy your time at Villanova because it goes by way too fast.