Photo by Daemyn Broxterman.
After a long day of classes and after-school practices, it is finally time to walk through the front door, completely exhausted. But there is no time to relax; a backpack sits by the door, heavy with hours of work. This is the daily reality for many student-athletes at Hastings High School.
While classmates might find it easy to head home and knock out their assignments, athletes at Hastings High face a much harder challenge: finding time to get it all done.
For Junior Kennedy Bruckman, the routine is second nature. Between after-school practice and away games, she has had to learn to manage her time wisely.
“I typically end up doing my schoolwork straight after practice, so that I don’t have to worry about it in the morning,” Bruckman said.
Junior Luke Nollette, another athlete at Hastings High School, approaches the challenge differently.
“I try to do schoolwork in class if I can,” Nollette said. “But if I miss class, I normally schedule out T3s [Tiger Team Time] for the days I’m gone, or I just do it on the bus.”
Balancing academics and athletics often means making sacrifices outside of school, especially when it comes to spending time with friends.
“Hanging out with friends is a big sacrifice; a lot of times when I want to hang out with my friends on the weekends, I find myself doing schoolwork instead,” Bruckman said.
Friends are not the only ones who can miss out on time with student athletes. Balancing a busy schedule can also mean forfeiting family time.
“When you play sports, you sacrifice a lot of family time; you need to make time for that separately,” Nollette said.
While fitting time with loved ones into a busy season can be difficult, schoolwork often requires athletes to use whatever free time they have.
“Usually, when I have a test the next day, I study on the bus ride home from a game,” Bruckman said.
While bus rides offer some time to study, the hours spent on the road can make it difficult to keep up with schoolwork overall.
“It’s hard to do everything right when [I] have to travel 8-12 hours a week on a bus, but doing your homework is important in life,” Nollette said.
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