It’s 6:30 pm and you’re at your game feeling prepared. On the court one step closer to hitting the ball. You step, reach, hit and now you feel joy run through your body because you did something to be proud of. But then you remember you have 2 final exams to study for. The game finishes at 7:30 and it takes you an hour to get home, you’ll be home around 8:45.
Once you get home you’re obviously tired and all you want to do is go to sleep. You shower, eat and forget to study. Now what? You get your test scores and you fail not one but both tests.
Sports and Studies in the student life is a common obstacle, the passion to succeed in both is actually pretty normal. But sometimes you let one overpower the other. Even though the process of developing positive habits might be challenging, it is key to keep it pushing and never give up. Once you start creating healthy habits you have the ability to maintain an equal balance between both.
This is why it’s important to develop a stable routine between both. Here are some tips and tricks from some of the iSchool students who have developed stable routines throughout their journey.
Always Prioritize your grades over your sport
Sometimes it can be difficult to put your sports aside and focus on your grades because your sport is something that you love to do. When you’re extremely passionate it can be hard to put it aside. But if this isn’t done then eventually your school work will start to take over you and you’ll have no time to get it done.
Everyone who plays sports has had a certain point in their life when their school work wasn’t their number one priority.
Armando Blancas, a sophomore at the NYC iSchool, was on the basketball team his freshman year and plans to join again this year. He says, “Last year I struggled a bit because my focus was practice but then attached to practice I had to deal with school, I was a little bit all over the place.” He suggests that he constantly kept putting his sports above his school work.
When one takes this action it can be hard to find the right balance, overcommitting can lead to many harmful effects, including a decrease in mental health, and worse grades. But with hard work and dedication this can be an easy transition to make a change in your life.
Attempting to thrive can mislead you from what really is important. One of them is pushing yourself to the maximum potential, this results in danger because in certain situations you can give your body way more than what it can take.
Remember everyday even though sports give you a hand in school, academics are really what push you to be the best version of yourself and they show you the best that you can do.
School work first, always.
Checklists and organization
Keeping all of your primary events in check are highly important. A common form of organization is having a planner. When you have a planner you have easy access to jot things down that you need to get done. For example, tests you need to study for, Mastery’s you need to turn in and practices you need to attend to.
At Herzing University it is suggested that using a personal planner can help you prioritize your tasks, improve your time management skills, and allow you to be more successful both in and out of the classroom. A more structured life will allow you to obtain mental benefits and build a better lifestyle.
Trier Fehbenbach is a senior in the NYC iSchool. She has been the captain of the girls softball team ever since freshman year, committing to such a thing at the young age of 14-15.
She expresses the importance of having a structured method to maintain your life organized. “I keep a lot of checklists, I have daily, weekly, and monthly checklists. where I complete things by importance (like the most important first etc) if that makes sense.” Making sure that all of your events are in order is one of the first steps to developing an organized life. This allows you to visually see everything that needs to be done and the time range you have to complete it.
This is a big step in the self monitoring world. You finally have the chance to take full accountability of all the events that occur in your life.
When you grow up you start to realize that you can’t really rely on your parents to keep your responsibilities in check. This is why it’s essential to develop a system, a system that works best for you and your lifestyle.
Use your resources wisely
Become aware of all the advantages you have around you that will help you out. NYC iSchool provides students with office hours.
Office hours will become your best friend if you’re struggling to find that in between. Teachers stay after school for that purpose, they are willing to help and guide you through any circumstances that you may come upon.
There’s times when you don’t even realize how bad you are doing in school because of how focused you are on your sport. Falling behind can be really common, but what matters most is how you own up to it and the effort you put into fixing it.
Even if you aren’t behind on work, ask questions. Having total clarity of any assignment that has been assigned to you helps your performance.
If you are behind on work, use that time wisely and work as hard as you can because it’s something that not everyone has easy access to.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill provides some benefits. Attending office hours, whether in person or online, can give you valuable time to better understand your class and can have a big impact on your academic success. Office hours provide a great space to speak to your teachers if you don’t feel comfortable speaking to them in the classroom.
Some of the iSchool students, as mentioned Trier and newly mentioned Zoe. Zoe Turrigiano is a junior here at the NYC iSchool, aside from putting hard work into school she works as a ski patrol and was a dedicated ski racer at a young age.
They both bring up office hours as a part of their day to day life here at NYC iSchool, “use office hours because it’s a great resource.” and “ I have found going to office hours after school, it sounds like I’m a teacher but going to office hours checking in with your teachers at some point like annoying them , like if you have any slight question.” Office hours are really great.
As much as you would like to go straight home after school or just go to hangout with your friends, staying for a few minutes or an hour can really boost your grades and your comprehension in school.
Attend office hours whenever you have the chance to do so.
Mental Health
As a student you should become aware of all the mental risks unhealthy balances can lead to in your life.
Any stress from not doing great in your sport, or even getting a bad grade on a test can really affect your mind and your well being.
As much as you would like to be perfect in everything, the risks of being perfect are not the best things. Being in a bad mental state and continuing to push yourself to the max can end really badly.
The National Library of Medicine discusses the topic of high school athletes. While some may have positive results when being pushed to their absolute potential, others do not know how to handle it.
As time goes on the pressure of succeeding builds up, which can lead to anxiety and depression. Anxiety and Depression have been steadily increasing among high school athletes for the last 10-15 years.
Both of these are serious terms that can define where people are in their life. Falling into depression can take your entire life into a really dark place.
This will possibly result in your academic scores dropping, you’ll lose motivation in your sport and you’ll begin to distance yourself from your loved ones.
Take the steps recommended to build a better life, don’t allow everything and everyone around you to dictate the way you handle your life. Accept help that you’re sure will only bring better results.
Conclusion
As a student who participates in sports, cultivating a steady relationship between school work and sports is crucial. It is okay to fall down, everyone at some point in their life falls but what’s truly significant is that you find a way to get back up.
Getting your priorities straight at a young age gives clarity of where you want to go in life.
Ensure that your educational responsibilities are in the correct place before you put your all into any sport. You don’t want to give it your all to succeed in one but then fail the other. Explore new things and see what turns out to be the best for you. Inform yourself with all the resources available and make time worth out of them.
Don’t take any opportunity you ever receive for granted because in a blink of an eye it can be taken away.
Zoe Turringiano says “ I would just say like your school always always comes first because if you get bad grades and you don’t walk in for school you’re not going to have the accessibility to good jobs that you actually want to do. For other people, sports is their hobby they do in their free time and while it does keep you happy, it’s all about regulation between both.”
