“Academia comes first.” That’s a common phrase here, tossed around by senior tutors, sports coaches and supervisors alike. More than once I’ve been warned that rowing (which I don’t even do) isn’t a valid excuse for being unable to make a supervision or meet a deadline. While I agree that time-management is important, sport hasn’t had a traumatic effect on my academics – quite the opposite. Admittedly my ability to stay awake in lectures after a 7am practice has definitely been tested, but I can’t imagine life at Cambridge without my weekly doses of chlorine and sweat.

We all know the basics: sports are good for you, physically, mentally and socially. Endorphins, and all that. But having that list rattled off doesn’t come close to the reality of why sports are so essential here.

In my experience of Cambridge, almost everything is done to the max. Look at the libraries in Easter term and it’s clear that when we study, we study hard. Just days later during May Week, we could awe even Jabba the Hutt with our excessive levels of vegging and partying. At a university level, sports are no different. The same enthusiasm, competitiveness, determination or just plain stubbornness that pushed us to get in here in the first place drives us to work hard in our athletic endeavours. And I much prefer forcing out a sprint set than trying to finish an essay at 5am.

Why? It goes beyond hating the caffeinated daze that accompanies the bleak sunrise as I email off my unedited work. I love my subject; believe me, I could go on a ridiculously enthusiastic rant about why sociology is the cat’s pyjamas. But it isn’t nearly as satisfying to get a compliment on an essay (not the one I wrote throughout the night, I promise), as it is to cycle home, exhausted from practice.

You know those days when you’re running five minutes late for lectures because the bustling school groups and oblivious tourists just won’t get out of your way. When you get back from a practical, starving, to find that hall has just closed and you’re low on groceries. When someone brings up that really embarrassing thing you did that one time that you vowed never to think of again and that no one’s supposed to remember. When your supervisor tears apart your essay after you proudly admitted to a friend that after three days of intense focus you think you finally nailed the topic.

It’s those days that finally getting that defensive manoeuvre, killing a swim set or just pushing myself that extra bit as my legs burn makes all the difference. Instead of retreating to my room and re-watching an episode of Game of Thrones, sport offers a healthy, and less emotionally traumatic (sob for every GoT season finale ever) output for the frustration, apathy or distress. After practice, those things all seem farther away, or at the very least much easier to deal with.

Also, that really embarrassing thing you did, the people who ate your snacks so you were low on food, and that messy bedroom with a pile of unwashed laundry: all left in college. But lo and behold, it’s training time, and you have a reason to be somewhere else for two hours. In those miserable winter months, exercise gets your blood going, your teammates get you laughing, and suddenly it isn’t as cold anymore.

Obviously not every week is a dreaded, busy mess. Some weeks go particularly well: supervision work handed in on time, someone in your hall made cake, and you even found £5 in your laptop case. Sometimes your bed is just so comfortable and warm that training is just a distant dream. But then someone in your team cracks a stupid joke and your week gets even better. And the new person on your team happens to do your subject so you’ve got a new source of entertainment in lectures.

Of course there are academic benefits to sports too, it isn’t all just fun and more fun. Water polo gets me up at 7am several times a week, and we all know the rowers suffer similarly, which means that rather than sleeping in till the sun’s almost at its peak (sorry science students), after sports we’re up and vaguely productive before lunch. Ask me to churn out an essay after a midday practice, and I’m likely to be much more capable than before when my mind was still fuzzy, struggling not to be hungover from Sunday night Life.

So you know what? Sports are essential to surviving at Cambridge. Sure, the academics and studying come first. But I wouldn’t enjoy my subject half as much, or honestly do nearly as well, if it weren’t for the hours that I occupy with something completely different every week. It’s ironic that in a university full of brilliant researchers, who I’m sure know the list of benefits, we aren’t more encouraged to dedicate time to sports. So even if you didn’t make the first team, because this is only the second time you’ve ever played the sport, don’t underestimate this opportunity. You’ve still got a plethora of new skills to learn, training sessions to enjoy, and sweating to do: in Cindies, as the clock ticks down on the last ten minutes of your exam, and during practice.