Time management is one of the biggest problems plaguing college students. Ask just about anyone, and they'll say how guilty they feel about the hours they've wasted on vices such as Facebook, World of Warcraft or reality TV.

But now imagine you're a scholarship athlete. Four to six hours of your day are dedicated to making your body the leanest and meanest possible. When you get home from a day of practice and class both mentally and physically exhausted, the last thing on your mind is homework. The level of physical commitment necessary to play at the Division 1 level not only seriously cuts into Warcraft time, it also takes its toll when it comes to academics.

Senior Daniel Chu is on the Washington men's tennis team. His favorite thing to do, when he's not sleeping, is play video games on his computer. But when 40 percent of his day is dedicated to tennis, it's not atypical that the remaining part of his day is spent sleeping, eating and reading for his business classes.

"College picked up the amount of time I'm at home, sitting at the desk, working," said Chu, a finance major. "Before I never really had to do that. That's the difference [with] coming to college. ... I have this extra responsibility to do well in classes as well. Trying to manage tennis and class work is not easy."

That's what tutorial coordinator Alafiani Washington and the rest of the staff at Student Athlete Academic Services (SAAS), housed in the Conibear Shellhouse, are trying to do: help athletes become winners, not just in competition, but also in the classroom.

SAAS provides academic counseling, academic coordination, learning resources and assistance for more than 400 scholarship athletes at the UW. The tutoring program is one of the most important programs SAAS offers, and more students have signed up to use this service this year than in the past.

This not CLUE or extra help from their teaching assistants — the athletes have access to their own tutors, who help them in one-on-one sessions on anything from economics to organic chemistry. The tutors, who are mostly undergraduates, are paid $8-16 an hour. Funding for the program comes from the athletic department, not the University.

Washington is in charge of recruiting, interviewing and managing the staff of tutors. She said she does worry that some may feel intimidated — but it's not from the group you would think.

"The athletes are just as afraid of the tutors as the tutors might be afraid of them," she said with a laugh. "Sometimes the grad student is under 5 feet tall, and they're sitting there with all this knowledge. A lot of athletes have told me that they feel intimidated because they feel nervous being in this environment and doing well academically as much as doing well on the field."

Lisa Bruce, a graduate student in the teaching program, is a tutor at the Shellhouse, working 20-25 hours a week. She likes her job because the hours are flexible, and she can use the skills she learned in her teaching program to try to motivate the athletes, especially when they're tired after a rough physical workout. She plans to continue with teaching and hopes to start substituting in a Seattle school district in the fall.

"They're a very fun group to work with; they have a great sense of humor," Bruce said. "They're used to working hard, so you can actually really push them."

Student athletes are required to sign up with a tutor for one quarter their freshmen year, but many volunteer for a half-hour or hour-long tutoring session throughout their senior year.

Junior Bret Lundgaard, captain of the Washington men's swimming team, signed up for an economics tutor just last quarter. He said his tutor really helped prepare him for the econ quizzes.

He said his coach told the team it's important to use the services available to them. "He said 'Yes, you're going to be tired and busy, but there's no excuse to get bad grades when there are so many people willing to help us,'" Lundgaard said. "The tutoring staff isn't just for dummies — some of the athletes who get the best grades get tutored."

Chu said the academic support is "the best thing I've found so far at [the UW]."

He especially said having a tutor that first quarter when it was mandatory was helpful because it helped him learn how to manage his time, and it set him up with good study skills for the rest of his college career. He credits the people "behind the scenes."

"They're really there for you," he said.

Washington said the most rewarding part of her job is watching young minds develop — and having athletes return years after they graduate to thank her.

"I really like working with students, mostly the first- generation college student," she said. "I like being able to see students come in, not know what's going on, and then growing to loving and enjoying the CHID program, or liking what the econ department has to offer. It's great to be a part of something that is life-changing for people, and have them come back after going professional to say 'thank you.'"

Washington said that she also feels for the athletes because they have the responsibility of representing the University wherever they go. That's another reason why they need all the academic support they can get.

"[It's a] big responsibility to a young adult, to have to represent a university," Washington said. "Whatever they do, it's going to be blown up in the media; it's a lot different from being a regular student. When you have that much pressure on you, it's important that you're being supported in what you're doing, because you are responsible for getting the University's name out there."

Reach reporter Erin Hicks at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.