As most varsity teams typically put the shine onto juniors and seniors, let’s turn the spotlight around to the underclassmen, shall we? It sure isn’t easy getting into most varsity teams, but many prove it to be very accomplishable with their skills. There’s always a good handful of underclassmen who make the cut every year and I’m here to tell about the lives of some of those student-athletes. These students are interestingly similar yet different from one another, but I’ll let you see that for yourself.

Logan Stell and Jordan Pfeiffer, two sophomores on the varsity football team who spend a lot of time together, as they do the same sports and have a close friendship. Both were interviewed but unexpectedly appear to have different views. I asked them how they manage their time and Logan explained, “to manage time better and get everything done throughout the day I’ve started setting alarms for the day to have time to finish all my priorities. Managing time as an athlete and looking to get into college is definitely a challenge but it’s definitely doable.” While on the other hand, Jordan said, “well football is on a very routine schedule, so things just flow so I don’t really have to manage that much.” The two were also asked if their social lives were affected and  Logan answered with, “yes, because I don’t really talk to people or hang out of school cause I’m always working out and at practice, so I never really focus on my ability to hold conversations much with anyone. Since freshman year I’ve become a lot more social and interactive in classes but, I’m still a pretty awkward kid. There’s so much competition in sports to get into college right now, so I feel like I have to really find a balance between the two without losing focus on my priorities.” Once again, Jordan feels differently as he said, “Not really, I still keep in touch with all my friends and find time to hang out with them.”

Ashley Tapia and MiaBella Sainz, sophomores on the varsity soccer team, perfect GPAs even with difficult and time-consuming classes, both agree upon constantly staying up past midnight finishing homework and little time for other things. MiaBella stated, “soccer takes away from your free time which makes you have to shift your schedule around it. I have to start homework later than I’m used to, and it also restricts plans I can make with friends and family. I tend to get 5-7 hours of sleep which my sport has an impact on.” Confidence was also a topic of interest and Ashley added, “for the most part, I’m confident during soccer. I’m usually pretty hard on myself so I think too much about the mistakes I make, but I’m still working on building up my confidence on the field.”

Hope Emmett, a sophomore on the varsity softball team reassured, “if I wasn’t on varsity, I think that I wouldn’t be having as much fun. I really love the girls that I play with and the level at which they play.”

These athletes all listen to music before their games and try to get their nerves off. Their sports also put a toll on their moods due to their performances from that day or at a recent game. Most of the athletes that were interviewed also made it into varsity teams their freshman year.

Athletes should be appreciated for all the work they put in to make themselves and their team better. Student-athletes seem to have their time revolving around their sports and lack time for their school work. For someone who literally knows absolutely nothing about sports, just talking to these people about their lives taught me so much.