In the fast-paced world of high school sports, having practice every day seems crucial. However, while they are beneficial in numerous ways, they can also be extremely detrimental to athletes’ mental and physical health. Practicing daily gives the team more time to work on skills, perfect plays and prepare for upcoming games while giving a chance for the athletes to bond with their friends and have fun regularly playing the sport they love. However, having sports every day also has its drawbacks.
Practicing sports daily can leave little time for students to focus on their homework, which can affect their academic performance. Additionally, the constant physical exertion without enough allotted time for rest can negatively impact students’ mental health, making it harder for them to relax and recharge.
As a freshman on the girls’ varsity lacrosse team, Rose Mueller, offers valuable insight into the challenges of balancing sports and academics.
“My practice is an hour and a half every day, so it takes up a lot of my day after school, so I don’t have a lot of time to do my homework, ”Mueller said.
Following Mueller’s statement, it’s clear that practice every day can take away from time spent on homework, relaxing or other activities. Also on girls’ varsity lacrosse with Mueller, Riya Pyle discusses learning about time management.
“Practice every day makes me work on my time management at home, especially with harder classes. As a sophomore, there is a lot more homework that comes with [sophomore year] so I need to manage my time more,” Pyle said.
While both sports and homework can be tiring, some valuable lessons can be learned. Managing both sports and academics requires students to effectively allocate their time.
Freshman Olivia Shapiro, a player on the varsity girls’ softball team, shares a similar opinion. When asked about her ideal softball schedule, she had an insightful idea.
“If we have to practice every day, having [practices] be shorter at the beginning of the week [would be beneficial] because that gives you more time to do homework, and then at the end of the week like Friday, be longer,” Shapiro said.
This alternative offers a balanced approach that could still allow students to practice every day and work on their skills, with the bonus of more time for homework and rest at the beginning of the week when it is needed most. Teenagers need rest, sleep and time to manage stress and homework, but daily sports practices often leave little room for recovery, making it an unhealthy balance.
