How to Balance Sports and School as a Student Athlete

     Sports are one of the most beneficiary things for people. They help with confidence, life skills, and physique. Lots of kids around the country participate in sports through school or at the same time as school. For kids and teens especially this can be a lot to manage and stay on top of. Many kids will either drop the sport or focus less on school and their grades suffer. This article will serve as a guide to help student-athletes especially learn and create good habits to help them stay on top of everything and balance their lives with school and sports.

     I am a freshman in high school and play basketball. Back in middle school the work was much less hands-on, so it was easier to manage, but now it got pretty overwhelming this year. For a while, my grades tanked a bit due to a lack of focus and it was a struggle. However, I started trying harder in the classroom and was able to get my grades up before it was too late. For many kids, this isn’t the case; they either don’t pass the grade or graduate.

Since I play basketball I will use that as an example. Basketball season is from November to February, that’s 4 months of the school year. Most school sports last about this long, and if you play outside of school you might be going year-round. School is from the end of August to the beginning of June. That’s about 10 months that you have to work and get good grades and plan for your future. School is always the top priority because that will get you a job. So when you add in sports on top of all that school it gets very confusing and stressful and time-consuming. Here are some tips to help manage your time and achieve your goals.

When you are about to start a school year it may be a good idea to plan out what you want to accomplish by the end of the year to have these goals in mind along the way. As stated in Kots, Kara. “How to Be a Successful Student-Athlete | North Central College.” Www.northcentralcollege.edu, 14 Sept. 2021, “Writing down and tracking goals will help to manage stress and take care of your mental health.” Keeping track of what you want to accomplish both in your sport and school can make it a lot easier to manage everything.
Another very important thing that people often overlook is that you need sleep. If you are serious about your sport and school you need to be getting sleep. Setting a schedule and time for bed could be something to think about. The more you sleep the more you are ready and focused for the day. It may be hard with all the parties and events going on but you have to do what is best for you.
To get into a good college you need good grades. This means you need to prioritize studying and academics. Set time during the day to study and work on your school stuff so that over the weekend you can play your sport. College coaches also pay close attention to your grades and even high school coaches do too. So maintaining a good GPA is very important. 
Another important tip is to focus on what's important to you. If you are set on your sport and school you may have to sacrifice other things like going out to parties or hanging out with friends so that you can get your work done. This is probably the hardest thing to commit to but it is beneficial. As stated in Felce, Ana. “How to Balance Sports and Studies as a Student-Athlete.” Www.apu.edu, 31 May 2018, “Because you’re adding in a demanding activity on top of your course load, you may have to sacrifice some other things you want to do. That might mean skipping out on a social event with friends in exchange for practice or an away game. A way to make this easier is when you are planning you can set aside certain times and days to hang out with friends and do other fun stuff. It is important to maintain balance in your life. 
Finally, the last major tip is to continue to allow yourself to grow as a person. High school is the time when you grow into an adult, so you have to continue to live your life and develop the life skills that you will need going forward. As stated in, Pierce, Scott, et al. “High School Student-Athletes’ Perceptions and Experiences of Leadership as a Life Skill.” Psychology of Sport and Exercise, vol. 51, June 2020, p. 101716, “Results revealed that student-athlete leadership was viewed as a skill-set and a mindset, driven by the individual agency. As an ongoing developmental process, student-athletes gained awareness of leadership skills, increased self-expectations, self-confidence in their use and application of leadership skills, and developed a transformational leadership mindset.” This quote explains how important it is for high school athletes to develop leadership traits and take control of their situations.

         These 5 tips are only a few that you can use to help guide you as a student-athlete. As long as you try to set goals and balance your life, and as long as you are happy everything will work out.