How YS student athletes balance school and sports

By Jalen Lee

Senior Cine’ Stevenson is an accomplished student athlete. She runs track and plays tennis for the high school. But she also takes mostly college prep classes. She talks about how tiring this can be.

“After a tennis match or a track meet or even just practice because my practices are so intense, I’m really just super tired when I get home. And sometimes I just want to go to my bed and go to sleep. But no, I have to do multiple classes and have to go through all this stuff.”

Her homework also takes time.

“So, days that I don’t have a quiz or a test the next day, it’ll take me about an hour or an hour and a half. And then days I do it’ll take me about two hours.”

That’s time Cine’ needs to put in after a full day of classes and practice. And she isn’t alone. Senior Nick Wilt is a one-sport athlete who wrestles for York Suburban. He takes school and grades just as seriously as wrestling. He completes his work no matter how long it takes.

“If I have a bunch of projects, then it will probably take me up to three hours after practices. But I can usually finish most of it within an hour unless I have a lot to do.”

His biggest challenge is that he also has a job on top of being a student athlete. Nick currently works for Handel’s ice cream shop. Last year, he worked for Weis. Some days he would go to school, go to practice, and then work a 4-hour shift before finally getting home. He talks about how this can be hard to juggle.

“The hardest part about being a student athlete is probably the balance of everything you have to do. Because it’s definitely a challenge. There’s work, schoolwork, and then also the athletics, but you have to also make sure that you’re healthy for these athletics. You have to make sure you don’t hurt yourself. And these athletics usually tend to be quite intensive on the body, so you just have to really constantly worry about whatever you’re doing.”

To some it may seem impossible, but Cine’ and Nick have figured out how to balance school, sports, and their other responsibilities.

Nick shares his advice.

“Don’t overload yourself. Look at how much you can do, and stick with that. Usually when I start to wrestle, I tend to cut my work hours a little bit, so that I can make sure I have enough time to do my homework for school, but also be able to do my favorite sport.”

Cine’ also understands the importance of time. Her advice for students is to use whatever free time they have to get their work done.

“Take advantage of your Flex because teachers are there for you to help you. And whenever you have the free time, like when you’re on the bus, I say do your homework during that time so that when you get home you can go to sleep.”

As student athletes, school is the first priority. Cine’ and Nick’s advice can help other students across the country excel in academics and athletics.

I’m Jalen Lee, Trojan News.