by Charlotte Vander Ploeg
Adrenaline races throughout my body as I sprint across the floor. I should be tired, but the excitement makes the fatigue dull. Anticipation stuffs the room. Squeaks fly across the floor. An object lands in my hands. The basketball. Everything blurs and instinct takes over. Before I know it I reach the other side of the gym and a shot goes flying. I hold my breath. The shot sinks.
Sports and other extracurricular activities can bring joy and excitement to every student. Yes, there are times when quitting seems easier. However, if we quit, we miss bonding, community, excitement, and fun.
So, extracurriculars are important, but what if you do too many?
Over the course of the school year, I’m involved in basketball, volleyball, ballet, karate, and skiing. Come next year, I will have to narrow down these options. I love all of these activities, but the pressure of fulfilling the expectations of extracurriculars and schoolwork is overwhelming.
Why should I do extracurricular activities at all? Should I just quit them all and prioritize school? Or should I perhaps loosen my grip on school and focus on sports instead?
I believe neither of these is the answer to my predicament. Unfortunately, I will have to face the hard decision and choose some activities over others.
Why do people do sports?
8th grader Oliver Colaw told me that one reason is competition: “I’m a very competitive person,” he told me.
Competition is certainly a big factor in extracurriculars, whether you're in basketball, volleyball, or knowledge bowl. I also enjoy the excitement of competition, though karate, skiing, and ballet are all non-competitive for me.
But there’s something more. I love sports because we can grow and improve. Our teams can become a new community for us. While our social life is blooming, our physical health improves. We add new skills to the rack. When I think about it, I feel like basketball and volleyball are the sports where I’m improving the most.
Sports can actually teach us life lessons we may not be able to find in school. That may be when we have to learn how to deal with defeat, or perhaps when we have to balance many priorities, or even when we have to persevere to learn a skill. All my sports teach me these lessons.
And beyond all that self-improvement, there’s another really important reason to do sports. When I asked 7th grader Jeep Demuth why he does the plethora of sports he does, he simply said, “Cause they're fun.” That’s big. Unfortunately, I have fun in all of these activities.
While all of the extracurriculars I do are fairly different I find that they do have similarities. Karate and ballet both require me to be agile and flexible. Ballet helps my balance in basketball and skiing. Each activity helps the others.
Another problem arises- I have friends in all extracurriculars. What if I let someone down? Will I lose some of my friendships? I have made friendships just because of sports. In school you tend to stay separate from other grades. Extracurriculars build a bridge to those ages. This may lead to friendships as well. If we leave these bonds we may find that was the only thing connecting us to them.
Sometimes it’s peer pressure that convinces us to stay in a sport. Or perhaps the extracurricular is chosen because it’s a family sport. “I wanted to play basketball because I saw my older sister and I wanted to be like her,” said 8th grader Brooke Edder.
Schoolwork is also a pressing matter. While some people may become star athletes or professional ballet dancers, it’s still important to keep our grades up. An athlete must be careful and make sure we pass eligibility.
“I would prioritize it over school, but I want good grades. You need good grades to play sports,” said Oliver. However, I am not saying a person should quit sports because of the academic challenge. An athlete simply has to be good at balancing. The more objects someone tries to handle, the heavier the lift becomes.
In the end athletes face the challenge of making hard decisions. All I can do is try to make a self fulfilling decision. In my opinion extracurricular activities are a must. Even though athletes have to make hard decisions, extracurriculars bring aspects to life we may not be able to gain in academics. So, next year: basketball? volleyball? ballet? karate? skiing? I don’t know. Come September I’ll have to make some choices.