Knowing I would be awake for hours on end, attempting to complete this, I sighed deeply. With each exhale, I wanted to quit. I could feel the stress, piling on my shoulders.

As I walk through the door, I hear my parents yell “Goodnight, great game!” But I knew it wasn’t the end of my day for me. I walk through my door into my messy room, and unloaded all my bags onto the floor. I dreaded opening my backpack to all the papers due the next day, however they had to be done. I had to compete a project, two test reviews and an algebra assignment. The Hugh School Athletic Participation Survey concluded that 55.5 percent of all high school students play a sport. This means more than 7.6 million students play at least one sport, while balancing their academic responsibilities and social life.

As I sat in my bedroom with paper every which way, I tried to comprehend all the information I was aggressively writing, but my brain was struggling to keep going.  Five hours later, at 2:00 A.M. I had finally come to an end with my homework. NCAA says that given the timing of practices, travel, competition and balancing academics, student athletes are at a high risk of sleep deficiency and reduces sleep opportunity. 

The next morning came and it was time for the busy, continuous daily routine to begin once again. My alarm buzzed and rang at 6 A.M. meaning it was time to make my way to conditioning for an hour before I had to attend tutorials at 8:30. The day seemed to move slow, the way a snail did. After a long, grueling volleyball practice, I looked forward to resting, however that wasn’t the case. Like the night before, I had school work to complete.

On another note, between trying to maintain my grades, practice and workouts, it leaves almost no time to socialize or do activities normal kids do. With the priorities of a student athlete, social sacrifices have to be made in order to balance everything. Being a student that plays sports, is like a full time job.

Meanwhile, through these struggles, I have learned to always persevere. Regardless of how hard it seems to be at times, it teaches people to work through hard times.