Student? Athlete? Both?
As we all know, Eisenhower High School has many sports available to the student body in three different seasons. But what exactly does it take to be a student-athlete? Grades? Leadership? Responsibility?
A high school student-athlete, by definition, is a student who, while enrolled in school, “must fulfill the responsibilities of both a student and a young athlete” (North Central College). As a student-athlete, you have two jobs to fulfill these responsibilities: student and athlete. As a student, you are required to keep your grades up. You must also be present at school, per WIAA guidelines, “half time or more, exclusive of activities.” Finally, you must be able to make up work, especially when traveling for away games/matches. As an athlete, you must be at practice and notify your coach when you are not able to be. You must be coachable, even during your off days.
When being a collegiate athlete, there are many things to expect. There will be required classes for you to take, depending on your major, that you still have to complete work and study for. You will have to attend practice, possibly early in the morning, team workouts/bonding activities, and, of course, games. This means that playing a college sport brings a lot of physical demand onto a student, along with the other educational demands from the classroom. Athletes are expected to practice up to 20 hours a week, maintain a required grade point average, train outside of practice and class time, and represent their school to the greatest of their ability.
We have many student-athletes here at IKE, so I asked them what they find to be the most difficult about being one. When asked this, a soccer team senior, Alyssa Lee, said, “Mental health and just managing everything. It can just get exhausting when you are trying to put your all into your sport and into school… it can just really affect you.” Bella Diehm, a soccer team junior, was asked the same thing. Her response was: “How demanding it is, I guess. It’s so demanding on you with what your body has to go through every day. Doing this and keeping up with your school work, family life, and friends is just draining sometimes.” Eva Knerr, ASB President and swim team senior, also said, “Being able to prioritize being a student over an athlete even though being an athlete is everyone’s main focus.”
Being an athlete brings a lot of student’s attention to their sport, drawing them away from things such as school work or their social life. This has a large impact on their mental health as well, and a survey revealed that “about 91% of high school athletes experienced some level of stress due to their sport, with 58% reporting a moderate to an extreme amount of stress…”(nih.gov). Many athletes in our sports season have practice for 2-3 hours after school, as well as some having morning practice. This can lead to a lack of sleep and attention, causing them to do poorly in the classroom setting, which can easily cause increased stress and anxiety levels.
Overall, student-athletes have it rough. They are committed to their sport and their school work, no matter what factors get in their way, which is something to be applauded.
