Wake up at 6:15. Ready by 6:40. Sounds like your life, right? Think again. 

After that, film room and training from 7:00 until 11:15. After that it’s pretty easy, lunch, maybe one, if any, classes. Then freetime until dinner(mostly used to catch up on school work) and the day ends with one or two night classes.

That’s the day in the life of D1 soccer player Josh Luchini. 

His training includes warm up, small possession drill, planning for the next opponent and strategizing, then some scrimmages. This doesn’t bother Luchini that much because of how long he has been doing it.

Luchini is a sixth year senior at Pitt and a transfer from hidden Ivy League College Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. He graduated from North Allegheny and was one of the best soccer players to ever play for NA.

Luchini considered transferring in his senior year at Lehigh.Athletes who played during the COVID-19 pandemic received an extra year of eligibility, thus making sixth year seniors possible. He wanted to enhance his opportunities by transferring to a bigger and better athletic program.

Luchini had 36 goals and 17 assists in his senior year, which led to him earning All-Region honors and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Player Of The Year. He was one of 38 high schoolers in the country to play in the High School All-American game and scored the only goal in that game. 

Luchini  may be great on the field, but he has resources to make sure he is great off the field too. Academic counselors help student-athletes like Josh to plan around his schedule. 

Dr. Christina Sheets, better known as Tilly to her student-athletes, is an academic counselor at Pitt for Women’s Swimming and Diving, Women’s Basketball, and Men’s Soccer, and frequently helps Josh and many other 

As an academic counselor, she only travels with women’s basketball and their game day starts with a study hall in order to have time to get school work done. She stays behind the scenes for the rest of the day and games. 

When student-athletes need help they come to her office and try to plan the week for time for school, work, and games and gives them a schedule to follow. 

Dr. Sheets coached swimming for over 15 years at Clarion University and Chatham University before coming to Pitt for her current job. She wasn’t just amazing on the pool deck, but also in the pool. She was a 28-time NCAA Division II Women’s Swimming All-American, five time NCAA DII National Champion, four time NCAA Academic All-American, three time Clarion Female Athlete of the Year, two-time PSAC Swimmer of the Year, and recipient of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.  In 2006, she was inducted into the Clarion Sports Hall of Fame. 

She became interested in this job because over the years of her coaching career, she realized most college students go to college because they feel like it’s the next part of their life, while athletes go because of athletics.  Once she was done with coaching, she found that being an academic counselor is rewarding. 

Her job doesn’t just help her student athletes, but also herself. She learns what the students are learning with them everyday, and the students help her keep up with fashion trends and style.