According to ncsasports.org, “High school sports provide competitive experiences for nearly 8 million student-athletes yearly.” They state, “That total has steadily increased since the early 1970s.” High schoolers today are more excited about athletics than ever before. Sports help teens learn important life lessons and improve their overall social skills. Along with the plus sides of being a student-athlete, there come more responsibilities that you have to consider, especially balancing your sports, academics, and social life. 

As a student-athlete myself, I wanted to hear different people’s perspectives on balancing their academics and sports. I’ve been playing hockey for years, and as I’ve gotten older and more serious about hockey, my schoolwork and social life have gotten increasingly harder to balance with hockey. This year, I’m having to juggle three different hockey teams: a traveling all-girls team, a co-ed high school team, and an all-girls high school team. Every week I play about seven and a half hours of hockey. Some nights, I get to bed past midnight, trying to finish my work after hockey. I also have to miss multiple days of school when I have tournaments, resulting in me missing work and having to cram to catch up. These struggles made me wonder how other student-athletes deal with sports and academics. To find this out, I decided to interview figure skater, Elidi Lawson, and horseback rider, Story Cutler.

Story Cutler is a freshman at Rowland Hall who has been horseback riding for about 10 years. Story is earnest about riding and says she hopes to make it to the Olympics in the future. Though Story has a love for horseback riding, she said it “can take over my life,” making it difficult to stay focused on school. To stay on track academically, Story said she makes sure to pack in as much homework as she can between school and horseback riding. To do this, she said she works on the bus or before horseback riding. She also makes sure to give herself breaks while cramming in homework so she doesn't overwhelm herself. Even though the balance of horse riding and school can be difficult, Story believes “it's all worth it” because she gets to pursue what she loves.

Elidi Lawson is a sophomore who has been figure skating since 2019. Elidi plans to skate on a collegiate level and is excited to skate for a team when college comes. The balance of athletics, academics, and social aspects in her life can be extremely difficult. She says being able to spend time with her friends is hard because she has practice after school, and often on breaks, she has competitions so she can’t be with friends. Having less time to have fun with friends can always be hard, so she tries her best to make specific plans for the rare occasions she’s not at school or the rink. 

Rowland Hall has a whole group of students who are no strangers to having to make up schoolwork because of their sport, Rowmarkers. While I didn’t have the chance to interview a Rowmark skier, Elidi Lawson takes advantage of the Rowmark schedule to help her catch up on missing work she has because of figure skating. She says last year she used to leave school every day at lunch, resulting in her missing a class every day. She also stated she practices before and after school most days, so when she gets home she is exhausted, making it harder to do her best work. Elidi is grateful for the accommodations that Rowland Hall provides for student-athletes because, without things like this, students who are serious about their sports might struggle with getting behind in their work. 

In conclusion, all these students have shown that keeping up with school and homework while being in a demanding sport can be draining. My story and Elidi’s show unique struggles with sports and school, but we can all agree that it's a hard thing to deal with. Something that stood out to me is that both Elidi and Story said that figuring out specific times to work on homework is a good way to get it done. Set a specific time to get your work done and make sure to hold yourself to it. This time can be between practices, before practice, after practice, or any time that you're not in school or practice. This also applies to social life. Make specific plans with your friends ahead of time so you can still have time to have a good time with friends even with a busy schedule. Elidi, Story, and I all appreciate that our teachers understand that busy schedules can make it difficult to study or complete homework, and that they can all be flexible with you so you're not too overwhelmed. Even though busy schedules can be hard, there are always strategies you can use so you're not swimming in overdue assignments.