Students trudge up the Upper School stairs, hauling backpacks over one shoulder. On the other shoulder, a tennis racket, softball bat, or field hockey stick peeks out of a crammed sports duffel. Amid the lobby’s early-morning bustle, these students’ double-weighted climb serves as a mere snapshot into their juggling act between academics and athletics.
By filling their schedules with both coursework and conditioning, alongside other extracurriculars, student-athletes must make the difficult decision of when to emphasize academics over athletics, and vice versa. Balancing athletics and academics can be difficult as many are faced with choosing whether to study for a final exam or attend practice ahead of a high-stakes game.
“I feel like our coaches are pretty understanding, but I also think sometimes they don't realize that we take stuff as priority over our sport,” junior and varsity boys swimmer Clark Scroggins said.
While bearing the intellectual burden of school alongside the physical burden of sports is an inherent aspect of the student-athlete experience, the toll taken by academics and athletics is more interconnected than one might think. Anxiety over a test may not always disappear after the school day ends, and the effects of a demanding practice don’t often end on the court. An upcoming tournament, for instance, can linger in a student’s mind during class, preventing them from truly focusing on the material at hand.
“On the days before big [swim] meets, there would be times in class where my mind was somewhere completely different,” senior and varsity boys swimmer Nate Weldon said. “I would be anxious imagining my races and all the things that could go wrong.”
The stress of academics plus athletics can hinder student-athletes’ performance in both areas as they carry their worries between the two; this leakage between school and sports further afflicts those who are self-critical about achievement in either aspect of their life.
Junior and varsity girls volleyball, basketball, and lacrosse player Gabby McDermott said, “If you evaluate yourself based off of how you perform during your sport, physically, it can be really draining.”
And that exhaustion affects other parts of Gabby’s life. “With that reduced energy, I just don’t want to do my homework,” she said. “I’d rather do something that doesn’t require too much energy.”
Also seeping into academic hours is performance anxiety. Like a theater production or a Model UN conference, sporting events attended by a large portion of the Latin community prompt a distress different from that experienced before an average game.
Junior Ruby Larsen, who both runs for Latin’s varsity girls cross country team and plays for FC Lake County soccer club, experiences this.
“The atmosphere has a little more pressure—people are more aware of what's going on with the sport, versus in my club sport, [where] I just go and I hang out with my team, and it doesn't really have any attachment to what I do in school.”
Both practices and games do not always affect well-being in the same way, even for the same student. Depending on the given day or a multi-season athlete’s affinity to the sport they’re currently playing, a student-athlete’s life can seem almost paradoxical in that practice may prove either anxiety-provoking or rewarding.
The intersection of stress relief and induced stress often plays out in athletics—so while sports may provide an additional challenge for students struggling to manage their academic workload, practices can alleviate anxiety just as easily as they cause it.
Nate provided an anecdote to illustrate this irony.
“I got a math test back one day, and I did not do too well,” he said. “I just remember really not wanting to go to practice and just wanting to sleep. I forced myself to go, and felt a lot of my stress wash away when I jumped in the water. After every practice, especially tough ones, I always feel more confident knowing I have the resilience to push myself in difficult situations.”
Senior and varsity baseball player Jackson Darke, who recently committed to Carleton College, described a similar sense of accomplishment—both in spite of and because of the struggles he faced when balancing his junior-year courseload and his sport.
“After my junior year, I was like, ‘Man, I can't believe I did all of that’,” he said. “Then committing to college for baseball was very rewarding because that's what I've been working for for so long.”
Regardless of their grade level, students juggling school and sports can find opportunities for self-improvement. Student-athletes develop critical time management skills from squeezing in homework before practice or on the bus ride to an away game. This lifestyle also requires emotional maturity to support troubled teammates or cope after a tough loss.
Freshman and JV boys basketball player Sohan Lal said, “School is definitely harder than middle school, and then the sports are more [demanding], so I think I'm just growing as a person, with my mental health, and also physically, with my sport.”
While maintaining an optimistic mindset during a busy period is easier said than done, at the end of the day, sports are not only something students choose to do but something that can change their lives for the better.
“I think being able to have that distraction, this time to work on myself, is something that's really valuable,” Clark said. “Think of sports not just like, this is a sport I play,’ but ‘this is also my free time when I'm choosing to do something I enjoy.’”
