What does an average student’s day look like? Wake up, go to school, come home, and then they have the rest of the day to do whatever they want. Even that can be tiring. For a student athlete, their day can be anywhere from 12 to 16 hours long.
With only 8 hours of sleep, and a 15 to 16 hour day of school and practices, I wonder how a teenager can even function. Most of the time, they probably don’t eat right, and their only source of energy is through a drink with 200 grams of caffeine and 30 grams of sugar. Sometimes, those 16 hours don’t even account for homework, chores, or chatting with family. For most, it’s to wake up, pack their stuff, hopefully get in a good breakfast, and go to school. Right after school, they have practice, maybe two, or they could have a game.
Student athletes must put academic responsibilities first. Keeping up with grades is very important. Athletes must keep a C or above in all classes the whole time they are on the team. D’s and F’s could result in being benched. Most of an athlete’s free time is spent doing homework or catching up on classwork. The other part is made up of sleeping or just taking a break to scroll social media.
Being a student athlete sometimes means missing out on events or sports games that all your friends are going to, and could even mean losing some friends just because you don’t have a lot of free time. It also makes staying free of peer pressure that much more important. Student athletes have more responsibilities than the average student, making it a bigger mess to clean up if they were to get into trouble. One part of being a student athlete that most people probably don’t think about is watching what they post. If an athlete were to post something inappropriate or a video of themselves doing something illegal or against school rules, they could get in serious trouble, especially if there’s a student who wants to continue their career in sports.
One thing that I find to be a problem when being on a school sports team versus a team not associated with school is the amount of time that you spend with the same group of people. In any situation, spending a lot of time with someone, or some people, could become an issue, especially when you play a sport with them. In this case, you don’t just play a sport with them, you also go to school with them and see them all day, every day. In some cases, that could cause an issue with drama and whatnot. If you are on a team outside of school, not all of the people on that team likely go to the same school.
40% of high school students struggle with their mental health. 78% of high school athletes experience some sort of stress, anxiety, or depression. Whether it’s from practice or games, homework/classwork, or not getting enough sleep. From personal experience, if an athlete makes a mistake, 80% of the time that mistake sticks with them. The pressure to do well in school, in sports, and to be the best at everything is there. Some athletes make it look easy, balancing school and sports, and for some, it is easy, but for others, it is not.
Student athletes everywhere deserve praise for their ability to juggle so many things at once. They need to know where to find help when they need it.
