Being a student-athlete can be challenging, especially when both your academic and athletic schedules are jam-packed. Many students here at Lake Highland Preparatory School are student-athletes and have to navigate this situation daily. Students need to be able to learn how to balance the two appropriately. Being overworked can severely harm mental health, which can lead to poor decisions inside and outside of school. It can be tricky to find a healthy balance between the two. Most likely, there will be many times when students have to adapt and change certain things to stay on top of everything. This can be challenging, but it is very possible. Different sports can also definitely require varying routines and ways of organizing. Here is a little sneak peek into the lives of three student-athletes.
Alyx Cunningham, grade 11, has been on the archery team for five years, and she has a strong love for the sport. In addition, she has received a team captain title for this upcoming season. A normal week of practice requires meeting four times a week, Tuesday to Friday, from 3:30 P.M. until 5:30 P.M. at the LHAC. Before archery practice, she typically begins with some kind of strength training or basic conditioning. Alyx mentioned that practices vary based on the daily or weekly objectives the team has, as well as any upcoming tournaments.
There are multiple ways Alyx makes sure she stays on top of managing her academic and athletic lives. Every day, before practice starts, she takes the time between the end of the school day and the start of practice to get in a homework assignment or two. She also mentioned that she likes, “To optimize the time I have in between for doing homework and talking to teachers,” leaving less work and confusion for after practice. She confirmed that sometimes an, “Early departure or late arrival to practice is necessary,” however, this rarely occurs. Overall, she feels that the coaches make practices very manageable and not overbearing.
For the team to stay organized, the entire archery team, which includes athletes, parents, and coaches, uses an app called SportsYou to send reminders and a detailed calendar. Furthermore, weekly emails are sent for an overview of the practices scheduled for the upcoming week, along with the goals for each practice. Team moms are also crucial in keeping the team organized. They are in charge of, “Where [they’re] going, when [they’re] getting there, and how” when it comes to competitions. The team would not be the same without the support of their moms.
When Alyx knows she has a busy week ahead of her, she utilizes as much free time as possible to plan and prepare. She likes to use lunch, afternoon PRIME time, and Homeroom to talk to teachers or maybe knock out a few assignments. She always creates an itemized list of assignments that need to be done so that she never intentionally falls behind. She thinks, “Having an initial plan is crucial” even if you go slightly astray from it. Finally, a piece of advice she gives to beginning athletes is to always, “Remember that [you] are student-athletes.” She encourages students to not let the, “Stress of balancing both burn you out,” which can easily happen with a lack of organization. Overall, finding a satisfactory balance is the best way to grow both in your academics and athletics.
Kylie Kiefer, grade 12, is an avid swimmer for Southwest Stars, a club in Winter Garden. She is now coming up on the sixth year of her swim career, which began back in 2019 when she was in seventh grade. There is no “typical” practice day for the swim team, as practices are constantly varying from one another. Kylie states that, “No two days look the same.” She says, however, that Mondays and Fridays are more focused on distance and pace. Tuesdays and Thursdays are focused on individual medley or strokes- medley: the combination of the four swimming strokes in the specific order of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. Wednesdays and Saturdays are focused on sprints.
To stay on top of managing her academic and athletic life, she always makes sure to, “Stay ahead of [her] schoolwork” and, “Organize [her] time in order to make sure priorities get done.” She likes to keep a regular schedule that helps her plan everything out and doesn’t like to stray away from it too much. Also, talking to teachers and coaches is a great way of staying on the same page. To keep practices organized and clear, her coach always has the entire practice written out on a piece of paper. However, whatever current set they are working on will be written on a whiteboard. Kylie says this is to keep the swimmers focused on the current set they’re on. Whenever she’s aware of a busy upcoming week, she likes to go ahead and get schoolwork done ahead of time, so there is less left to do during the week. She likes to organize her assignments and, “Spread out all of [her] work evenly” so there isn’t one night that’s left with way more work than another. A piece of advice she gives to new athletes is to, “Work hard and never give up.” There will be people who don’t believe in you, and there may even be people who tell you to quit. But, as long as you have the passion, you’ll be able to accomplish anything with hard work. Ronin Gault, grade 11, is a part of Lake Highland’s wrestling team, and has wrestled for many years. A typical practice day for wrestling has two sessions: one in the morning (6:30 A.M.-7:45 A.M.) and one in the afternoon (3:30 P.M.-6:00 P.M.). He mentions that morning practices typically include a 2.5-mile run, followed by intense weight training. Practice after school contains more conditioning and drills.
Ronin states that most of the team completes their work after morning practice, as they have quite a lot of time in between practice and school. He also mentions that the team tends to help each other with their work. To get organized before competitions, Ronin says coaches, “Pick up the pace in the room to help everyone lock in for the tournament.” Practices typically get more intense and sometimes last longer. If Ronin knows he has a busy week ahead of him, he tries to be sure to get work done ahead of time. Finally, a piece of advice he gives other student-athletes is that, “You will get out what you put in.”
These three different students live very different lives and play various sports. However, they have all found a way to make their athletic schedule mesh with their academics. A major takeaway that all three of them stress about is how important staying on top of your work is. Never let your academics slack solely because your athletic schedule is busy. This will catch up to you and affect you in the long run. Always remember that being a “student” athlete requires being a student first.
