By Julia Pelech

There are many students at Batavia High School who are involved in sports, which require them to stay after school for daily practices, hindering their time to do homework. It takes certain skills to be able to manage their time in order to be able to achieve everything that they want to.

A trend that is common among the student athletes that were interviewed is that they do not value their sport over their grades.

“I think both are equally important,” said freshman Tsunami Smith. “I love my sport and I know if I work hard at it, it might help with getting into college. I also know good grades are important to colleges as well and to myself.”

Overall, school does come out on top, being that sports are sometimes a gateway to a better college.

In order to keep their grades in line, the athletes start their homework as soon as they get home from practice.

“I start my homework right away and don’t stop until I’m done besides eating dinner,” said Grace Borchert, a junior at BHS. To be able to keep their schoolwork, sports, and anything else in line, a student has to be able to tell themselves that it’s time to work.

Another skill that a student athlete has to master in order to be successful is focusing. They need to know how to put their head down and work. Most importantly, it is imperative that they know how to tune out distractions from their work environment. On the flip side, the student also has to be diligent with their sport and train their hardest to maximize their results. This would also require you to be able to put your head down and focus on the task at hand, being that they have frequent games or meets.  

In order to stay positive during a season, it is important that an athlete does not stress too much about an upcoming competition.

“Cross country is more of a stress reliever, it does not give me extra stress,” said freshman Sarah Borchert, a member or the Batavia cross country team.

Others like her believe that their sport causes extra stress, but do it for the fun of the practices.

“I get stressed from time to time and I am dropping track in order to do well on the SAT and AP tests but cross country is my main sport and I couldn’t imagine life without it,” said Sarah’s older sister, Grace, also a runner.

If a student athlete is stressed but does not want to drop their sport, they need to think of the sport in a more positive manner. They cannot afford the stress of games/meets on top of everything going on with their schoolwork. Instead of being nervous about an upcoming competition, the student should be excited and eager to compete.

Something else that the athlete has to consider is that their grades need to stay constant during the season and the off season.

“My grades have always been okay,” said sophomore Carla Macias, a member of the cross country team.

She and others have put in the work to make sure their grades did not drop during the season.

“Sports help my grades, they don’t hurt,” said freshman Isabella Jordan. “In the off season, my grades go down.”

Believe it or not, Jordan, a volleyball player has a common situation. Studies have shown that the grades of student athletes during their seasons are higher than their off-seasons.

If a student is diligent with their school and their sport and they make sure to focus on the task at hand and not get too stressed about their sport, they should have no problem being successful in both athletics and academics. They might just have a little bit of fun, too.