BY ABBIE SLATTON, Freshman
BLYTHEWOOD--The most important part of being a student athlete is keeping up good grades and maintaining strength on the court, field, pool or, track. Having stress can be hard to deal with mentally and physically.
“Juggling academics and sports can be challenging; but since most study time is spent under pressure, logic suggest that a busy schedule means more work is more likely to get done,” Maddy Lucier of The Stack said.
Blythewood High School Sports Psychology teacher Ben Ehrlich offered some advice to all the student athletes.
“Some advice that I could give them is to not make it harder on themselves than it already is, take care of what you need to on a daily bases instead of letting things pile up and you will be able to manage both fine,” Ehrlich said.
“I do think that student athletes have more of a connection to the school, and I think with that comes a little bit more pride of being part of Blythewood. The fact that you are doing something with the school can help with both your performance in your sport and in the classroom as well,” said Ehrlich.
Blythewood High School Head Volleyball coach and English teacher Mary Hall has a unquie perspective of a teacher and a coach. on the topic and decided to give her advice.
“A lot of times during season I see student athletes attempting to keep their grades up because they want to participate in their sport, they do not want to get on probation, and a lot of the time they tend to fall behind during the off season but they have to manage stress and classwork rationally or they will fall behind,” Hall said.
Blythewood High School freshman Alexandra Davis swims on the BHS swim team and is having to learn how to manage the stress and work of school and swim.
“Stress from swim has an effect on school work because when I know I have a lot of homework and I have practice or a meet that day I am always stressing during practice to remember what I have to do,” Davis said.
Not only does Davis worry about how her grades affect her now she is looking ahead to the future and her team.
“Having good grades makes you feel more put together and helps you progress in the future, also having bad grades can cost you your spot on the team, so there is always that stress of my team and my future,” Davis said .
“You can control every minute of your free time,” according to Team Testive from Testive. Don’t go in with the mindset that you’ll get it done later because most of the time something else will come up that gets in the way. If you prioritize your school work ahead of time, i.e. 6 – 8 pm is devoted to academics, and you stick to that schedule, you will be amazed at how productive you can be.”
Being a student athlete has its pros and its cons, but being able to manage the stress from school along with a sport is something that every athlete learns to deal with and conquer along the way.
