THE BALANCE OF SPORTS AND SCHOOL IS NOT FOR A FOOL

A 14 year old teenager is up at 3 am trying to get his assignments from yesterday. He was up all night and only had two pieces of homework done and he has plenty more to go. He tries to keep his dead eyes open because if he doesn’t then he might fail this class. Why is this worrisome? Well, he plays football for Greenway High School and if he doesn’t pass this class then he will be forced to drop out of sports.

This is almost always the daily life of a high school athlete who has to balance their school life with their sports life. Students of Greenway High school and all high schools in general are being affected by having to juggle school with sports. Students have been mentally and physically worn from staying up all night just to finish assignments. School has put a stress on students to keep their grades up and do the things they love like sports all at the same time. 

Many students are in constant stress over if they can even get assignments turned in before tomorrow. If it wasn’t obvious already, it’s because of school. School is always causing students to have sleepless nights. As most athletes are starting to get back into the rhythm of school, they are starting to have more homework. With the influx of homework, student athletes are having a harder time keeping their sports life and school life in check.

Students are having more of a difficult time trying to balance their schedules, which creates stress for students. “Yes, it does effect me, it makes me worry about my grades,” Freshman Alexavier M. said. This is the constant worry of almost every athlete in high school. School is pushing athletes to the limits and athletes are trying to get all their school work done before the very next day.

Homework is one of the biggest contributors to the reason why athletes are up all night. When athletes are done with their sport, they have to get home in time to finish their homework. Sometimes homework can keep athletes all night because they’re trying to cram in all of their homework that is due tomorrow.

“I don’t have time to finish my homework,” said football player Sophomore Mark Esquta. He also said that he is up for about two to three hours every night trying to finish it. Athletes are up all night trying to finish homework, this leads to them having a lack of sleep for practice and makes them less engaged.

School should lower athletes homework so they can have time to relax and have an actual good amount of sleep. When athletes are having a hard time trying to get a good amount of sleep, it can impact their mental and physical health. Them staying up all night trying to finish homework can hurt them and their bodies. According to Ruthann Richter’s article “Among Teens, Sleep Deprivation an Epidemic” in Stanford Medicine, sleep deprivation increases the likelihood teens will suffer negative consequences, including an inability to concentrate, poor grades, drowsy-driving incidents, anxiety, and depression.

If students can’t keep their sanity how are they supposed to keep focus in class? Athletes that are barely getting a few hours of sleep won’t be able to learn in school. Dr. Gellner of the University of Utah said, “Lack of sleep can also have a negative effect on how a child learns. Overtired kids work more slowly because it’s hard for them to remember what the teacher just told them or what they just read.” If athletes can’t have a sharp understanding of what the class is teaching then that student will begin to fail classes. When students start to fail they won’t be able to stay in sports and will get them kick out of their sport. The result of the study revealed that there is link between participation in sports and
performance in education and participation in sports improve the Grade Point Average (GPA).