Former LSU athletes find retirement “bittersweet”

 

The roars of LSU loyals from Death Valley and Alex Box are what drew former athletes like Audrey Lawson and Alex Edwards to Baton Rouge.

Edwards, a self-described utility player for LSU Baseball and a Baton Rouge native, grew up idolizing dominant the Tigers in the mid-90s and early 2000s and always dreamed of being a Tiger.

“Once I got the opportunity to play [at LSU], there was no doubt in my mind that this is where I wanted to go,” Edwards said.

Lawson swam for the women’s varsity team for four years specializing in the 200-yard butterfly, which is recognized in the sport as one of the most grueling events in the lineup. She said she fell in love with the university after attending her first LSU football game during on a 2008 recruiting weekend.

“I specifically remember the big L-S-U at the end of the Alma Mater,” Lawson said. “I could literally feel the pride that everyone had for their Tigers. It was awesome.”

Five years later after both Edwards and Lawson completed their athletic eligibility. They are now taking steps to begin their lives outside of the sport.

Lawson is attending dental school at the University of Louisville, and Edwards is completing his sports management degree at LSU while serving as an undergraduate coach for his former team.

But while many Tigers go on to succeed in their lives outside of the court, field or pool, the transition into what student-athletes refer to as “normal life” is almost always a bittersweet experience.

Becca Hubbard, associate director of health and wellness at the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student Athletes, advises approximately 100 student athletes a year.

A former basketball player at the University of Georgia, Hubbard said she thinks the hardest part about retirement for student-athletes she advises is the inevitable shift in identity that comes with retirement.

“A lot of their identity has been wrapped up in the sport, so it’s hard for them to transition,” Hubbard said. “I think it’s hard for them to realize ‘My sport’s over, school’s over. Now I graduate and I’ve lost everything from those past four years. My entire identity is different.’”

Lawson, a stand-out student who graduated with a 3.9 GPA in her Kinesiology major and was involved in a multitude of groups on campus, agreed. More than anything, she identified herself as a swimmer.

“In college, [swimming] was all of my identity,” Lawson said. “Being an athlete at LSU was a privilege, and who wouldn’t want to show that off? I can safely say, somewhat sadly, that outside of the athletic realm I had about three other friends, and I even met them through athletes.”

“The transition was definitely weird,” she continued. “I was in denial for a long time. It was just so hard to believe that one day I wouldn’t head back to practice and dive back into the water.”

But the consensus among LSU athletes differs from Hubbard’s opinion. Many said that the hardest part is not the change in their athletic statuses but making the transition without their team.

Edwards played 134 games with LSU Baseball and joined the Tigers in the College World Series last spring. When the Tigers, who were highly favored in the tournament, lost to the University of North Carolina Tarheels in the first round, the team’s season, along with Edward’s career, ended in sudden disappointment.

However, Edwards said his sentiments after the game were not focused on himself but on his team.

“The hardest part was looking around the locker room and seeing guys I’ve been there for four years with, like Mason [Katz] and [Chris] Cotton,” Edwards said. “What hit me was everybody going their different ways and that this was the last time playing with all of those guys. That was the hardest part.”

Likewise, Lacey Sanchez, a former pole-vaulter for the LSU track team who is currently working on her master’s in mass communication at the Manship School, said the thing she misses most about her athletic career is being with her friends at practice for three hours each day.

“When I came to LSU, life was all about track and the team; that was your immediate surroundings all the time,” Sanchez said. “Now that I’m on a completely different schedule than all of my former teammates and friends, it has been a huge adjustment to life without them.”

Athletes like Sanchez and Lawson attribute their close bonds to the countless hours of training they spent with their peers.

“There is no bond like the bond of being together at 5 a.m. with bloody elbows and no makeup on, sweating your butt off during circuit training,” Lawson said.

But at the same time, many former athletes are somewhat glad to be finished with their training days, which required more than muscles and sweat.

According to the NCAA, in season practice is limited 20 hours a week for Division 1 sports. However, other athletic commitments such as study hall, rehabilitation treatment, nutrition lectures and leadership meetings are not counted among these hours.

Lawson estimated that during her college years she spent approximately 40 hours a week fulfilling athletic obligations and spending time with the team.

Sanchez, who transferred to LSU from Southeastern Louisiana University in 2011, said she had a difficult time finding balance in her life due to what she called the “higher level” of training at LSU.

 

A fan of musical theater and a contestant in the Miss Louisiana Pageant prior to transferring, Sanchez said she had to put these and other interests on hold after coming to LSU. She said pole-vaulting always came first.

“You can only devote so much of yourself to so much, and some things just have to give,” Sanchez said. “But I’m excited to get back into those other things outside of athletics. I don’t want to say [retiring] was a relief because I do miss it, but it’s also nice to be normal.”

Sanchez and Lawson also both said they are happy to live outside of the pressure that comes with being an athlete at one of the most renowned sports schools in the country.

“I absolutely do not miss the nerves before a race,” Lawson said.

They also both admitted that the pressure began to make competing less enjoyable.

“I was on a club team in high school, and that was the most fun I have ever had with my sport,” Sanchez said. “I always like to go back to that time when there was no pressure; we were all just friends jumping and hanging out. But when you get to college it’s different. There are people’s jobs riding on your performance.”

But not all athletes miss the rush of competing and not all athletes miss the consuming training.

For some like Edwards the experience was only positive. Today as a coach he said he is now at the practice field more than when he was a starter.

He said he enjoys seeing a different side of the sport he loves, but still misses playing.

“There’s nothing I don’t miss,” he said. “If it were up to me, I would stay and play forever. There’s really no place like it.”

Web Extra: Audrey Lawson’s Swimming Career on Dipity.