By Lilian Nguyen
It’s the last day of your senior year. You put on your gown and the deemed necessary graduation attire that’s filled with a vast array of cords and stoles, marking all the hard work and dedication you’ve poured into the four years of high school.
You start reminiscing on the list of achievements you’ve accomplished, whether it be big or small. One of them, however, sticks the most out of all of them. One of them marks your commitment and unwavering will–it’s the sport you’ve been playing for the entirety of your high school.
The point of all of this is that if you plan on joining a sport in high school, whether it be out of pure curiosity or wanting to break out of your comfort zone, then stay in it. Joining a sport means that you’re going to have to be more dedicated than you ever will in your basic physical education class. Joining to just finish PE credits is not going to do any good for you, the other athletes on the team and the coaches.
It may seem intimidating at first to dedicate yourself fully to something big like a sport but in the end, the payout is worth more than the regrets you’ll have if you quit midway. Prime examples of these payout benefits include the development of life skills.
“Important life skills like time management and self-motivation,” four-year track & field athlete Matilda Le said.
It may seem ironic that a sport which takes up a huge chunk of your time can give you actual life skills but it really does. Going home late in the afternoon forces a student to get their work done and sooner or later, they find a balance between their sport and their academic lifestyle.
Furthermore, joining the sport but being hesitant is a given for anyone who goes into it for their first time. It may seem scary at first but if you stay and see what you’re capable of doing, you’d be surprised at what you can actually accomplish if you put the time and effort to do so.
“I developed a better understanding and appreciation for the sport and how teamwork/leadership skills often carried over to the classroom,” four-year soccer goalie Nylah Mirshafiei said.
While Mirshafiei has been playing soccer since she was just five years old, high school played a huge part in developing her soccer skills. Putting the athletic idea aside, high school is a time for building connections and bonds, ones that may end up lasting forever. All the skills gathered from a sport are always in play whether you are conscious of it or not.
However, on the other hand, there are many students who join and quit after 1-3 years for valid reasons. Some stop after a major injury or pressures from parents and many students find themselves having mounting pressures in junior year and because of that, they may decide to take a break which is very reasonable.
“Managing both academics and extracurriculars wasn’t a problem for me until my junior year. I mostly just push through it and try to manage my time,” Le said.
Like many others, junior year of high school is insanely stressful so it’s understandable if it’s deemed necessary to skip because you’re stacked with a bunch of AP’s. In the end, it’s just a matter of balancing out your lifestyle and time management.
“It’s honestly very hard. I play club soccer and high school, which is a total of 6 practices a week,” Mirshafiei said. “I train about 12 hours a week, excluding games. I have to manage my time very well with planners and organization. In the end it’s lots of late nights and multitasking while driving to games and doing homework.”
In the end it’s very, very difficult but if there’s something to be learned from high school, it’s the value of committing to something. For many of the athletes in the sport who are actually committed, seeing their peers drop like flies make them lose a sense of respect. Many have a passion for their sport but the much-valued time they could have with their coach is ending up being used to teach the uncommitted ones because they’re the ones with the least knowledge about the sport.
However, if you do find yourself joining a sport just to fulfill PE credits but end up finding a passion for it then go all out and commit to it. There’s a difference between those who actually want it and those who are just lazing around.
It’s not a matter of just sports, but life in general. Without committing, a person will never see themselves grow as a person. All future successes and achievements start off with a simple commitment towards something and in this case, it’s a sport.
So go out there and stay in your sport. Don’t leave because you’re too lazy or because you already finished 2 years of PE credits. Stay to find connections you won’t be able to find in classrooms. Stay to find out what you’re capable of. Stay to understand the unique aspects of athletics in high school but most of all, stay to lay down the first stepping stones of your long road of achievements ahead of you. All it takes is just a little small seed of thought in your brain that says, “I really want to do this sport!”
