Sports are a good way to be active and be involved in school. Everyone holds student athletes up to a certain standard, but they never really say how they really feel. First of all, before the sport even starts, there are tryouts to find out who gets cut and which team they get put on. Everyone wants to make Varsity, but as an underclassman it’s hard to even be looked at. As much as  you want to be on Varsity, you know that you will ride the bench because all of the upperclassmen from last year already have their spot set in stone. You have to listen to numerous speeches and lectures about how you are an example for other students on how to act.

After you get put on a team you have to go to practice every day. No matter how much you love your sport, everyone dreads going to practice after a long day of school. Being emotionally, physically, and mentally drained, missing out with all of those, “Do you want to go to Eegee’s after school today?” or ” Let’s hangout after school” conversations and having to say you have practice. The worst part is when you are excited to hangout with all of your friends on Friday, but they hangout right after school without you and you’re left out because of your sport.  Going straight from class to practice gives you no time to eat, which is not okay because it feels like your stomach is eating itself.

Then, get home hours later and you smell and need to take a shower, but you are way too tired to move, so you just sit, playing on your phone until it is 10:00 at night, still needing to take a shower and do homework. Doing your homework after you get out of the shower and having to try to keep your eyes open feels like in that moment nothing could be worse. After you get done with homework, you drag yourself into bed and finally get to fall asleep. No matter how annoying these things get, nothing compares to bonding with your team, winning, improving, and most of all doing what you love. Sports do get in the way of some things, but in the end, we all love them enough to continue to do them.