Balancing sports and school takes a lot of work. Athletes have to be wise with time to get homework done and still be on time to practice.
This trimester, some Skyline athletes are juggling two sports on top of school. That comes with a lot of responsibility: communicating with coaches, managing your time, fueling your body, and staying healthy.
Athlete Gwen Armstrong (‘29) manages both tennis and Lacrosse. “I balance those sports well because the practice times automatically work with each other. Lacrosse is directly after tennis. When I have a game, I communicate to my coaches in advance if I have to miss something.”
While playing two sports and once, you have to be smart with how you balance your schoolwork. Using your time wisely and getting work done in class is a great way to do that.
“I decided to play two sports because I love and enjoy them,” says Armstrong. “With schoolwork, I like to get done as much as I can in class, prioritizing the time I have, knowing I have sports that take up most of my after school time. Otherwise, I take time before bed to finish schoolwork but still make sure I get my needed sleep.”
Players have to communicate with their coaches to plan how they can balance both sports. Sometimes you have to skip practices for games, or only go to half of one sport’s practices for the other. Having a coach who is flexible and good at communicating is really helpful when you play two sports so you can balance them both.
“There’s a lot of people who are in track who do two sports, so the coaches are pretty understanding and nice about it,” says Marin Smith (‘29), who balances tennis and track. “I talked to the coaches and we figured out that on Mondays and Thursdays, I’m doing track, and also Saturdays, because they have practice on Saturdays too. Then for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I’m doing tennis. So I’m doing half and half.”
Your friends and parents can be very helpful with playing two sports too. If you miss practice, your friends can keep you updated with everything you missed, and things you need to do. Your parents can be super helpful too, making sure you keep track of your schedule, driving you to practice so you’re on time, and making sure you’re doing everything you need to do.
“I couldn’t decide which sport I wanted to do, since I had good friends in each one, so I decided to do both,” says athlete Kate Sauld (‘29). “Playing lacrosse and soccer is sometimes really challenging, but my friends are really helpful letting me know what the coach said at practice, and my mom has been helping me schedule it all and help me get there.”
While you can try to go to as many events as you can for each sport, it might not always work. You could have to skip one sports game for another or pick what practice you go to that day. You have to make hard choices, but it also teaches you how to balance your time and make smart choices.
“The biggest challenge is probably just missing so much because I’ll miss the day before a game and miss a bunch of information,” says Smith.“You’re also not getting to practice as much as you would [like] because you have to miss practices for the other sport. Sometimes I’ll just go on a run after tennis practice, or hit off of a wall after track practice to get the same amount of practice in as everyone else, but it’s hard because I’m super busy with schoolwork and stuff.”
Playing two sports also has a lot of benefits. You can have friends on both teams, you’re super active, and you get to do both of the sports you enjoy.
“I’m super happy I was able to do both sports because I enjoy them both a lot,” says Armstrong. “My love for lacrosse is based more on my relationships with my teammates while my love for tennis is based more on the sport itself. I’ve also been involved in Tennis for almost my entire life, while I just started lacrosse.”
