Balancing Life
Imagine having to juggle twenty-four items at once while walking, difficult right? This is the equivalent to what students who are also athletes experience, they obviously don’t do this all on their own, however, most of it is all on them. There is a substantial amount of pressure that these students that are also athletes have on their shoulders, they also have a great amount of accountability that they’re responsible for. Students who are also involved in athletics learn and develop quicker than their peers, but they’re also kind of required to.
Students who are also athletes must learn how to balance life between athletics and education. Ever since I was a little girl, my dad stressed a great amount how important education is and that nothing must ever come before education. However, going through life and learning, I’ve realized that this is true but this isn’t as simple as it sounds. As an athlete you are required and expected to be at every practice early which is considered to be on time, work hard, and keep working and practicing no matter how late the practice goes. In some ways, sports are just as important as education in regards to all of the characteristics, skills and lessons they learn.
Being an athlete isn’t easy, it requires a lot of time and hard work, you also must learn how to manage your team and develop a strength not only physically but mentally as well. Also, this time and hard work put into sports take away from time outside of school that those who aren’t involved in sports use for educational reasons- homework, studying, or meeting with peers. Now, for competitive sports, like club teams, you’re not only missing outside of school time, but many times you have to miss school time due to tournaments, games and other activities. From personal experience, there have been many times that I’ve missed school for many reasons varying from multi-day tournaments or recovering from tournaments. Athletes that are committed to their sport also tend to give up their summer. At least for volleyball, where there are practices and conditioning every morning for school, then depending on the club there are practices- or open gyms- in the afternoon, there are also leagues for scrimmaging as well.
Time Management
Sports force athletes to learn how to manage and balance their time well, as well as many other valuable life lessons that will be needed throughout life. One thing that sports have taught me that I feel is substantial (?) is ambition, which is to not give up, to work hard and keep trying until you succeed. A coach once told me that the ambition and strength that they obtained from sports allowed them to fight and win their battle against cancer.
A volleyball coach was diagnosed with cancer, the ambition and strength that sports had taught them over all of these years had a tremendous impact on her that allowed them to fight and with their battle against cancer.
Mental health and well being
Like music, sports are a way of escaping, allowing people to not have to worry about what is occurring in their life, it’s a way to take their mind off of things, especially those dragging them down. There has been a substantial increase in the amount of teenagers developing mental illnesses over the past few years, which is the result of numerous different factors(). However, the moment that they step on the court (or the stage for others), all that is wrong in the world goes away and they are with others whom share the same interests and have the goal which is to win the game and perform better than the last time.
I learned a long time ago that a person can stand just about anything for 10 seconds, then you just start on a new 10 seconds. All you’ve got to do is take it 10 seconds at a time.
Sports teach athletes incredible endurance which is a valuable characteristic to obtain that will be useful throughout life. This characteristic is extremely valuable and an amazing trait to have. Having endurance makes you a stronger person, endurance also assists one with the ability to sustain and tolerate hardships and difficult tasks. It’ll also help with the ability to withstand pain and difficult times.
Sports help people develop important and valuable characteristics and skills. There are many skills and characteristics such as strength, love, passion, ability to work with others, and so much more. With this, athletes aren’t only having fun playing the sport they love, but also learning and growing to be a better person. Another substantial skill athletes learn is time management having to balance school, work, practices, games, tournaments, and life in general.
One thing that sports have taught me are the qualities of determination and ambition. Determination consists of not giving up and to have and find the energy, passion, and to achieve your goals and have success. Ambition gives the drive to go for everything and not give up, making one want to succeed. These and so many other qualities are what make an athlete and if used correctly can make someone not only be an outstanding athlete but person as well.
Being a part of a team creates this bond that is unlike anything else. A team is like a second family, you become comfortable and gain trust in one another where you don’t feel the need to worry and have accountability for one another. Sports also teach athletes versatility and quick thinking and reactions.
Life is difficult, there are many positive things but there are also going to be hardships along the way that hopefully be learned from. Sports help people overcome these hardships and work through them, as well as learn so many important and valuable lessons, qualities, and skills. Sometimes seems to be overlooked and misunderstood by adults and parents who are unaware of what all sports actually do for students. The impact that sports can have for people is incredible and often overlooked.
