Sophomore guard Quentin Grimes is back to school in his first semester at Houston after transferring from Kansas over the summer. | Trevor Nolley/The Cougar
Coming back to school is hard for any college student, especially for those involved in University athletics who have to balance their academics and their sport.
Luckily for some, including sophomore guard and transfer Quentin Grimes of the basketball team, the transition has gone smoothly.
“It feels good to get back into the school year schedule,” Grimes said. “It’ll be good to get that flow back and be just a regular student.”
A native of Houston, Grimes spent his first year of college at Kansas, where he started every game and averaged 8.4 points for the Jayhawks.
For redshirt freshman guard and teammate Caleb Mills, coming back to school has also been mostly mellow.
“Classes have been smooth since it’s only the first week,” Mills said. “Had to get those first couple assignments out of the way, but they’ve been good.”
There have been some minor obstacles so far for Mills, who graduated high school early in 2018 and redshirted to practice with the Cougars daily last season. Mills and the rest of the team must now adapt to the regular back-to-school schedule.
“We have to adjust to the routine again,” Mills said. “In the summer, we had one class and went to practice. Now we have four and have to get our extra work in.”
Senior forward Desiree Bowen of the soccer team has run into the same problems, including having to miss some classes to travel for away games, but she said the new routine has been manageable through the first week of the fall semester.
“I had summer classes and workouts every day except for weekends,” Bowen said. “The transition is pretty hard, especially since we miss class, but it’s doable.”
The native of Suwanee, Georgia sat out in 2017 because of the difficulties that come along with being a student-athlete.
“When you play soccer in college it’s hard for you to find balance in your life,” Bowen told The Cougar in Sept. 2018, shortly after her return to the sport last season. “You have soccer, school… you need time for yourself.”
Sophomore guard Nate Hinton of the basketball team agrees, citing the busy schedule from the moment he wakes up until the moment his eyes close for the night as one of the top challenges of coming back to school.
“Once we’re up, we’re up for the rest of the day,” Hinton said. “It’s different. Real different.”
