Some students find the real­ity of athlet­ics out of reach, with class assign­ments, home­work, along with other acad­e­mic commit­ments not allow­ing for space for sports. Others see pursu­ing an athletic path in Justice as a waste of time, not really bene­fi­cial to their life or college resume. However, sports can help foster studen­t’s vital char­ac­ter traits and can lead to valu­able lessons learned. Kyle Aylward, a junior at Justice who plays basket­ball and base­ball, sees athlet­ics as “a gate­way to meet­ing new people and learn­ing real world lessons.” Addi­tion­ally, athlet­ics can serve as a way to better prepare students for the work­place and soci­ety. “Getting to prac­tice on time, helped me get to work on time, it was the mind-frame I used.” Explained Mr. Wallace, a social worker at Justice who also played Foot­ball in college. “Learn­ing to accept redi­rec­tion from my coach, helped me learn to accept redi­rec­tion from my boss, work­ing with my team­mates on and off the field, taught me how to work with my co-work­ers.” Mr. Wallace added.

Athlet­ics can be an excel­lent way to demon­strate a hard work ethic, lead­er­ship skills and team­work skills. Combined with a strong acad­e­mic show­ing, it can catch the atten­tion of many colleges look­ing for a well-balanced student. When asked what her main moti­va­tion was for balanc­ing acad­e­mics and sports, a Junior, Olivia Barber stated, “Prob­a­bly college, because both of them are going to help me when I get there, and I have to learn how to balance differ­ent parts of my life as I get older.”

Never­the­less, there are chal­lenges that come with a student athlete lifestyle. One exam­ple was given by Mr. Harvey, a coun­selor at Justice and some­one with expe­ri­ence on the foot­ball field. “One of the pitfalls that I fell into, and I think a lot of people can fall into with athlet­ics as well as acad­e­mics is you can end up tying your worth to your perfor­mance. I think that’s some­thing you gotta be cautious to avoid as an athlete.” 

However, Mr. Harvey gave one of the many bene­fits of taking on sports, he stated, “I believe person­ally that life is more beau­ti­ful when we have all these differ­ent expe­ri­ences, so having a life where you got things beyond school, beyond work. If you’re doing these things that can be enrich­ing, and you’re learn­ing how to fit it in a way that is healthy and allows you to thrive in multi­ple areas, you’re going to be that much more success­ful later on.”

It’s evident that although there comes chal­lenges with pursu­ing the student athlete life in school, the bene­fits far outweigh them. With balanc­ing athlet­ics and school, you’ll be able to win on and off the play­ing field in no time.