Jimmy Walker, BGSU’s Women’s Soccer Coach, recently disclosed crucial life advice for anyone looking to become a productive student athlete in college. Jimmy has nearly 30 years of experience coaching young, up-and-coming players and his advice to college athletes is as follows: “Make the most, and take advantage of, this time of their life. There are so many student athletes that are thinking ten years ahead about jobs/ careers, which is brilliant, they need to do that. But sometimes they almost wish their college years away because they’re so ready to get into the real world. Once they get into the real world and have been there a number of years, they’re gonna look back at their college time, and [be] hoping they would’ve made the most of it.” Jimmy also reminds students to be “present and intentional about the time that you spend in college.”

The newest Asst. Coach Olivia Thompson agreed with this idea, stating herself that students should  “Enjoy every single moment. Once it’s gone, you always want it back and it’s the best game in the world. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, just play.” When asked for advice for incoming Freshman, Olivia stated that students should “Do the work now. Working hard, you’ll never regret it. You never wanna go later on in life having regrets, wishing you’d done more.” Oliva is a newly retired soccer player herself and she stated that it has been a big change for her first moving to Bowling Green from Florida and going from being a player to now a coach. She enjoys the amazing community within the campus and she feels like she is a part of something bigger.

Bernie Compton, the soccer team’s Director of Operations since 2019, added that athletes should be able to “Be flexible. Over the last few years with COVID, we’ve really seen it, but as things start getting back to how they were previously, things are gonna change, and we’re not always gonna have a set schedule all the time. Even as a Director of Operations, I might say ‘hey, lunch is gonna be at 11’, but lunch doesn’t get delivered until 11:30. Being flexible and having that ability to do that when you’re in a controlled environment like this is going to help you further when you’re in a job where it’s not as controlled.”

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