Game Day Groundwork

With no disrespect to the Bangles song, not every Monday on campus is a manic one. For Matt Shifrin ’19, an economics major from Wilton, Connecticut, who plays on the men’s basketball team, Mondays are actually his lightest day of the week when it comes to his course load. Here’s a look at one day in Shifrin’s life.

Monday, Nov. 12.

8:30 a.m. Just woke up for my 9:10 a.m. religious studies class. Mondays are my easiest days as I only have one class, so it’s nice to get it out of the way early. This is especially nice on the day of a game.

9:10 a.m. “The Judaic Tradition Class.” We’re learning about kosher food and the eating traditions in Jewish culture.

Peirce Dining Hall

11:30 a.m. Lunch at Peirce with friends from my team and the volleyball team. I start with a burger and fries and finish with a light salad.

12:30 p.m. Office hours for my economics seminar. A rough draft for my 20-page seminar paper is due Friday, and I can definitely use all the help I can get!

Walking on campus

1:15 p.m. I head back home to my NCA to take a nap. Game-day naps are a must. I try not to take them too close to when we play so that I have time to fully wake up after.

3 p.m. On game days, I always try to get my work done before the game, because I can never get myself to do any work after. I go to lower Gund Commons and work on my economics paper, and complete my environmental sociology reading for the night.

5:15 p.m. Team dinner before a game at Peirce is a must. It’s a great time to goof around with the guys before we head down to the KAC.

6:15 p.m. The official warmup starts. Some nervous tension is starting to build among the guys, but that quickly goes away.

Playing basketball

7 p.m. Our first game vs. Geneva begins. Unfortunately, one player goes down early in the game with an injury he’d already been dealing with. He’s a huge part of our game plan, and we have to adjust to not having him in there. We start off well, though, with an early lead. And then things take a turn, with a horrible start to the second half. We’re down by double digits, which is always hard to come back from. We have to be better.

9:30 p.m. Unfortunately, we lose. Sometimes that’s the way it goes in basketball. The name of the game is putting the ball in the hoop, and we just haven’t been able to do it tonight. It was a tough loss, and not a lot went our way.

11:30 p.m. It’s always hard for me to fall asleep after a game, whether we win or lose. I try to avoid it, but I always reflect back on all the moments of the game and what I, and we as a team, could have done better.