Student Athletes: What, Why, and How?

Being good at a sport sucks.

No, I’m serious.

I don’t have too much personal experience, unfortunately. I mean, I’m a student athlete, but I’m not too good. Too much.

My sister is a different story, though. We’re on the same swim team, and she’s qualified for several Junior Olympic and a couple of Far Western times.

That doesn’t mean a smooth ride or anything. She wakes up at 8 AM. On a Saturday. To practice for two hours.

That’s not even going into the in-house training, the private lessons, the multiple meets in which she has to catch a plane to get to the place where it’s being held, you get the idea.

Luckily for her, she’s just a lowly elementary school kid, so the academic onslaught hasn’t begun yet. I’m a high schooler, though. I’ve already felt the wrath of the public school system.

Now I’m wondering how she’ll handle it all.

If you see me in my sister (Heck, maybe you even find me relatable), you’re a new student athlete (Welcome to the club). Maybe you’re just curious about the average student athlete, then this article is for you. In it, I’ll try to answer the following questions to the best of my ability: Why do students play sports? How can we balance school and sports? And the winning question: Should high school and college athletes get paid?

I’ll start with the easy one.

From my knowledge, there’s a pretty big pool of reasons why students do sports. I asked my mother why I swam when I wrote this article.

Here’s what I love about Asian parents: They sugarcoat nothing.

The conversation went something like this:

“Mom, why do I swim?”

“Well, we wanted you to get some exercise, so when you were young, we tried to get you to do a bunch of other stuff, like soccer and tennis, but you failed at all of them.”

“Oh.”

“But swimming’s different: When you’re in the water, you have to move to stay alive. It’s perfect for exercise!”

“Oh.”

“How’s that sports article coming along, by the way?”

“I’m working on it.”

I do it for exercise, but there are a lot of other reasons too. The most common ones I see and hear are improved fitness, improved academic performance, and that it looks good on college transcripts. Essentially, while sometimes (often) exhausting, youth sports keep kids healthy and smart.

The next burning question is: How can we balance school and sports?

Well, its difficulty varies depending on what sport you’re doing and how good you’re at said sport. But I think the trick is to fall into a routine. For instance, I begin my homework immediately after school and then go swimming, come back home, and then do homework again until I’m done. It’s honestly not too difficult once you get used to it.

This might not work for some people, but it’s the method I’ve used for years now. Good time management, believe it or not, is useful!

Now for the matter of payment.

Of course, I’d like to get paid. But the issue is I don’t see a reason why.

We pay membership money to be on the swim team in the first place. The way I see it, now we get to go to meets and get some extra exercise in, which is of course always good. It’s more of a business transaction.

Essentially, whatever the reason that you’re doing a sport, fall into a routine! Get your exercise in! Make new friends and connect with other kids!

But don’t expect to get paid.