It is a day packed with a full class load, practice and a strenuous workout schedule aimed to prepare an athlete for a season that is a distant eight months away.

This is a typical schedule of an offseason athlete, and in this case, men’s basketball center Justin Blevins.

“It’s a year-round thing,” Blevins said. “You’re always fighting to get your work done even if it’s just five minutes here or 15 minutes there.”

The team resumed practice just three weeks after the season ended.

Blevins’ Daily Schedule:

8 a.m. Alarm clock sounds
9 a.m. Business Calculus (meets four times/week)
10 a.m. Guitar class (Tuesday/Thursday)
11 a.m. Statistics class (Tuesday/Thursday)
12:30 p.m. Introduction to Marketing (Tuesday/Thursday)
2 p.m. Lunch
3 p.m. Practice on Monday/Thursday
4 p.m. Weight lifting at IAC (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday)
6 p.m. Dinner
7 p.m. Homework study
7 p.m. Finance class on Monday/Wednesday
10 p.m. Free-time
Midnight Bedtime

Hobbies: Guitar, video games, hanging out with his girlfriend
Favorite video game system: 8-bit Nintendo
Favorite video game: Super Mario Brother’s 3
Favorite food: Fettuccini Chicken Alfredo
Position: Center/Forward

Many teams start individual workouts right after a season’s completion, while full practices can start less than one month later.

The volleyball team’s season ended Nov. 15 with a loss in the Mid-American Conference Tournament. It restarted individual practice before the tournament concluded.

“When you commit, you are committing for four to five years,” said sophomore setter Courtney Kersten. “If you want to get better then you have to get into the gym and do it.”

Blevins said the offseason is as grueling as the regular season because of the weight-training schedule.

The basketball team trains four days a week and practices twice a week, while the volleyball team lifts three days and practices four.

Field hockey coach Cristy Freese said outsiders see athletes only in the competitive season and sometimes don’t understand what it takes to be a Division-I athlete.

“You have to be a 12-month athlete,” Freese said. “They are always busy because when they’re not practicing they are lifting.”

And when they are not doing that, they are in the classroom.

However, he has learned to manage his time efficiently after playing at CMU the past three years.

He’s a video game fanatic, plays guitar and still maintains a 2.9 grade point average.

And he has a girlfriend in a relationship he calls “very strong.”

Since Blevins can’t hold a paying job like non-athletes, he buys video games at garage sales and sells them in his own lucrative business on eBay.

Kersten’s Daily Schedule:

6 a.m. Alarm clock sounds (Monday through Thursday)
6:30 a.m. Breakfast
7 a.m. Weight lifting
8 a.m. Practice
11 a.m. Weight lifting class (Tuesday/Thursday)
Noon Lunch
1 p.m. Chemistry class (meets four times/week)
2 p.m. Library to study
3 p.m. Snack
3:30 p.m. Psychology class
5 p.m. Dinner
6 p.m. Free time
8 p.m. Homework or back to library
10 p.m. Bedtime

Hobbies: Watching game film, hanging out with roommates
Favorite TV shows: “American Idol” and the “OC”
Position: Setter
Quotable: “If you want to get better then you have to get into the gym and do it.”

His sales have netted him more than $1,000 in the last three and a half weeks.

Blevins, who said he owns every video game system ever made, has six 8-bit Nintendo’s stacked at his apartment ready to be cleaned and shipped out.

“I clean up the games and make sure they work,” he said. “Then my girlfriend helps me send them out.”

Even with the strenuous schedule, Blevins usually has the weekend to relax.

“Friday is the best day for me,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to just sleep right through the alarm.”

This Friday is an exception because he is traveling home to Marion to play in an alumni game Saturday at Marion High School.

“These players do this stuff all year long,” said men’s basketball coach Jay Smith. “With recruiting, camps, lifting and practice, it becomes a full-time job.”

With the volleyball season drawing closer, Kersten’s free time has become limited.

Her health fitness major includes a lifting class, which makes her lift an additional two days.

She starts spring volleyball Saturday and will help run a youth clinic Sunday.

Kersten forces herself to study at the library during free time to maintain her 3.5 GPA.

“I always feel like I am doing something,” Kersten said. “It’s tough sometimes to maintain everything. The library is a good place for me.”

Neither Blevins nor Kersten struggled to get back on the court after their seasons ended.

“We know we’re working for that goal of being a better team for next year,” Blevins said. “It wasn’t that big of a struggle. It wouldn’t be right any other way.”