You’ve just entered the gym to watch an exciting game and see a high school student dominating the game. The next time you see this student, they are at school, studying, or hanging out with friends. You wonder how they manage to play sports, study, and have fun with a limited amount of hours per day.
It turns out that they do have enough time to juggle the three, but a common question they get is, “Do they struggle with balancing their sports, social lives, and studies all at the same time?”
“I’ve definitely sacrificed a lot,” says grade 11 student Ella C., who is dedicated to all three aspects. Ella considers herself motivated and has a desire to be good at everything she does.
You might ask, “Why would students make their schedule so packed? Isn’t that such a struggle? Why would they do that to themselves?” Ella replied, “Honestly, the idea that one day it will all be worth it, you know, just in terms of my future career, the college I get into, et cetera.”
Whether you think it’s a struggle or a blessing to be able to balance these aspects, would you like to find out how they do it? The Bite interviewed students who manage this balance, to put you into their shoes of how they handle balancing sports, social, and studies. Here we feature three students: grade 10 student Charlotte J., grade 11 student Ella C., and grade 12 student Nicki F.
Which of These Aspects Do Students Prioritize—Sports, Socials, and Studies?
Each student profiled in this article practices their sport three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) through after-school activities, and each practice is an hour and a half.
When students choose to participate in sports teams, especially if they are chosen to play for the varsity team, it’s a big commitment. There are around two to three tournaments per season, and the games are usually played after or even during school.
“I’m committed to the team; that is something that would come first for me because I am not going to miss practice to study,” says grade 10 student Charlotte J., who plays football each autumn season. She prioritizes her interest in sports and makes it clear that playing football is most important.
Brandon Slade, a professional lacrosse player and former student-athlete, states in a blog post for Untapped Learning, that students-athletes “face significant time pressures, with 67% reporting high time commitments even during the off-season.”
Ella, who plays volleyball, has a different view. Instead of prioritizing sports, she finds studies to be the most important aspect of all. “I prioritize academics first and then sports, then my social life,” she says. “I really try to balance all three; as athletics are a big part of my life, I really value sports, and I am a very social person, but prioritizing academics would be my number one.“
Although they have different priorities, the priorities influence each other positively. In an academic study that was made by author Katie Richardson, who rounds up statements from PHE teachers to justify sports in school, the report found that students who are “physically active may experience better focus in the classroom, leading to enhanced academic performance.”
Being involved in sports can positively impact you, especially when being in class due to the concentration. Although you sometimes need to prioritize another aspect, it will influence you positively in one way or another.
How Do Students Who Manage to Balance the Three Aspects Stay Organized?
Based on my interviews, students in the Diploma Program (DP) have a harder time managing this balance, meaning it might be harder for the older students interviewed to stay organized, socialize as much as they would like, and not be stressed about work while playing their favorite sport. With busy schedules, exams, summative, and studying to work on, students are extremely stressed and don’t know how to manage their schedule and organize themselves.
Grade 12 student Nicki F., who faced exams and finishing Volleyball SCIS back at the beginning of November, says, “I have this little notepad on my computer [that I see] as soon as I open my computer, so it’s perfect as every day I tell myself, ‘Ok, this is what I have to get done.’ I also put the date on the notepads sometimes so I know which to prioritize more.”
Ella says she organizes herself using Toddle’s Class Flow, but she keeps “good track in my head as well.”
Some people, like Charlotte from grade 10, likes to write everything down and be off screens when organizing work. “I’m not a very go-with-the-flow person. I do have an agenda that the school has provided that I do use, but I also just use sticky notes that sit on my laptop to mark down all my summatives and future assignments.”
What Motivates You to Stay Committed to All Three Areas?
Having three aspects that you must commit to on a serious level is important to get better, but that also means you need to build up a lot of commitment. The amount of time students have to per day to do all three is limited, including having fun and everyday activities.
An academic article titled “Stress in Academic and Athletic Performance in Collegiate Athletes,” published in 2020, reported that “approximately 65.7% (50.7% males and 71.8% females) reported feeling overwhelming anxiety in the past 12 months, and 45.1% (37.1% males and 47.6% females) reported feeling so depressed that it was difficult for them to function.”
This article further explains why it is difficult for student athletes to perform their best on the court and even off sometimes: “Collegiate athletes are not immune to these types of issues.” With high expectations and a need for a lot of motivation to keep doing what they are doing, this only leads to student-athletes burning out.
Charlotte mentions how she has so much passion for all three aspects, and she knows that if she gives up one of them, “everything is going to crumble in a way.”
Ella is looking towards the future. She mentions how all three aspects are going to be useful when she grows older and wants to do them for her own benefit. She says, “Honestly, the idea that one day it will all be worth it you know, just in terms of my future career, the college I get into, et cetera. Then obviously, I have the motivation to have a social life for fun and personal aspects.“
What’s the Hardest Part of Managing Your Time Between the Three Aspects?
All students interviewed attend school from 8 AM to 3:15 PM and then have after-school activities until 5 PM. When taking into consideration homework, everyday errands, and time to socialize with family members, it’s hard to imagine how the students do all these activities in such a limited number of hours.
Charlotte says, “I think just coming home I’m exhausted already, and then having to do work or talk to my friends a little bit sometimes gets too much.”
Charlotte mentions how she has to push through all the stress and exhaustion she is feeling the moment after she finishes playing football, yet has no other choice. Regardless of work, she mentally feels exhausted and has no motivation to continue to work on assignments or talk to her friends, which is one of the only times she gets a break from being a student-athlete.
Ella has a solution for those moments of exhaustion. She adds how she “finds time for drawing sometimes; just getting my thoughts down on paper can really help me. I mean just doing things that will clear your head, like listening to music or going on a run; things like that just help me calm down and take a breather.”
When being on the court, studying, or even hanging out with friends, all of the people interviewed get stressed and search for ways to blow off steam. Whether it’s something you do physically or mentally, students balancing all three aspects have to find a solution for when they have overwhelming anxiety.
Nicki, for example, thinks positively and likes to use her mentality to motivate herself. She says, “Your mentality has to be good, and you have to be able to push yourself and think it’s worth it in the long run to actually accomplish your goals.”
Nicki says that you should always think about the positives, not always the negatives. It’s good to assess yourself, but you need to take a break sometimes and just enjoy whatever you are doing.
Have You Ever Felt Like You Needed to Give Up One Area Temporarily to Focus on Another, And if so, How Did You Decide?
Sometimes, students may leave practice to focus on studies or cancel plans to focus on their sports, yet every student interviewed has experienced making sacrifices to maintain balance.
Ella, who has been in AISB for two years and is currently in her first year in DP (a new system, joining the IB system), says, “I think because I’m so motivated in school and athletics, it’s not a difficult choice for me to sacrifice social aspects, especially because I can still talk to my friends at school and stuff like that. I’ve definitely sacrificed a lot.”
She says how giving up her social life for studies and sports wasn’t such a hard choice, you just need to still do it when you have free time or at school. Her friends, which are mostly in her grade, understand that it isn’t a big deal not to talk or hangout every weekend, as they have the similar assignments and have an idea about the changes she might need to make to stick to her plans.
Nicki who is a senior, after two years of DP did make a change. “I also do gym sometimes and I gave that up last year in the end of the year exams for grade 11 which were important. I stopped going to the gym for a while because I didn’t have time, so I had to sacrifice that.”
She explains how she still does sports, studies and hangs out with friends yet she had to give up a favorite hobby of hers to balance the three out.
What Advice Would You Give to People in Similar Situations?
As these students worked hard to be where they are now, would you want to hear some advice from them? How do they manage to keep this balance over time, how you can do it, and what tips and tricks to be able to do?
My best advice would be to take care of your body and listen to your body. When it comes to balancing all 3 it could quickly get overwhelming and draining. — Charlotte J.
I would just say that the most important thing is to obviously manage your time and also listen to yourself, and take breaks if necessary, I think that’s important. Mental health is something that a lot of people struggle with but refuse to talk about and I think that that’s something that is really important and everyone should think about. — Ella C.
My advice was to determine which aspect of your life is more important to you (whether its sports, social life or studies) so then you know which one to prioritize. Also make sure to identify goals for all of them because that is what is going to keep you going as you have something to look forward to. Obviously also to try your best always. — Nicki F.
Although balancing sports, social life and studies may not be easy, the AISB students interviewed exemplify that with hard work, time management skills and a little bit of self listening it can be done. Their suggestions highlight the importance of mental health, motivation & setting priorities. Even though sacrifices are common, the benefits that the three aspects provide always makes it worth it. Reminding ourselves that “one day it will all be worth it” is possible if they remain balanced and continue.