Traveling for sports can have a massive effect on a student athlete’s workload. When you’re leaving on Thursdays for games you miss a lot of work time and sometimes a test on Friday which can leave a student lost in the dark and struggling to catch up on what was missed. Academics and sports often go hand in hand. You need to keep steady grades to be able to travel but usually traveling can keep you from those steady grades. 

A lot of athletes would argue that sports are worth the time taken from school. When Nora Miller, who plays basketball, was asked if sports were worth missing school she said, “I think it is totally worth it to miss out on school because of the opportunity and traveling is super fun and we also get to create lots of memories.” 

Traveling has positive and negative effects on a student’s life. “You feel less prepared for upcoming tests because you didn’t get the in person information.” said Sella Thompson, who is  on the ski team, explaining the type of effect sports have. 

There are ways that you can combat the overbearing workload. Isaiah Aguilar who wrestles shared this tip, “I usually go to my teacher and explain that I’ll be gone and they tell me what I’m going to have to do along with bringing my Chromebook on the trips so I can keep up.” Sports are a very big part of students’ lives and balancing the school aspect of it is just as hard. We owe our student athletes a lot of gratitude because they manage to balance it and they should be proud of that because it’s not easy. 

Traveling for sports can create a lot of memories for athletes to look back on. Long bus rides late at night, hotel rooms, the time leading up to the game, and the locker room pep talks are all just as important as winning. As much of a hassle leaving for sports can be, it’s worth it because, believe it or not, sports are a very important part of high school adolescence as they create connections and memories for students to look back on later in life.