As the end of winter sports comes to an end, spring sports start to begin. Spring sports include soccer, track, girls tennis, boys golf, and baseball.
Some students have been playing a spring sport their entire lives, while others have been playing for a while and some are newcomers. However, regardless of how long they’ve been on the team, they’re excited for the warmer weather they’ll be competing in.
“My favorite thing about playing a spring sport is honestly the team. I sometimes can really dislike running, but when I have such a supportive team it makes it easier,” sophomore track runner Nakhyra Jones said.
Many students dislike the idea of participating in sports or dislike sports in general. Some students have valid reasons for not participating in sports, such as having a job or focusing on school, while others simply do not participate in any sport or other extracurricular activity that may be available.
“They don’t have anything to do in the winter so they do a sport,” sophomore soccer player Hannah Bucknell said.
With each passing school year, more students participate in spring sports. Freshmen enter high school, and their peer group grows with each passing year. It appears that the size of several clubs or sports has been doubled. Schools not only get more students, but students also get more opportunities and options.
“Every grade level grows in experience. Our last year freshmen turned into more experienced sophomores. We all guide each other and learn from each other,” Jones said.
There are many questions that can be asked about sports, but how do people go through their entire lives and only play one sport every year when the time of the season runs around? How do they come to love a particular sport so much out of all the sports available?
”I love the energy of the team. You can’t love the sport if you’re not having fun,” Jones said.
Participating in sports alters a person. It not only changes the way you do things or think about things, but it also improves people.
“We’ve only just started conditioning 3 weeks ago and practice just this week, and I already love it. The girls are unbelievably nice and funny. They’ve all been really inclusive as well, and even though I’m a freshman, I’ve never felt left out or like I don’t belong. I think that’s helping me to grow to become more open to new people, and overall, just being around them is helping me to be a better human being,” freshman Keira Erickson said.
Everyone who has played or is currently playing a sport has a reason or motivation for doing so. Others may have been influenced by family members, or they may simply have played since they were children and have grown up with the sport.
“I’ve been playing tennis ever since I was four. One day, my mom stopped to get gas at the gas station across from the Hastings High tennis courts when we were on the way to my grandma’s house. I was in the backseat and it was 2 months before my 5th birthday. I saw a meet going on over on the courts, and I decided that was going to be me one day. I started playing a few weeks after that and I’ve played ever since then,” Erickson said.
