ELLA HU || STAFF WRITER
Many Andover High School athletes balance the demands of competitive sports with academic responsibilities and extracurricular involvement, while others prioritize athletics over academics.
Student-athletes face the challenges of juggling demanding sports schedules with rigorous academic coursework. As athletes, they have to attend practices from Monday through Saturday while maintaining their grades. Many find it difficult to participate in after-school clubs due to overlapping commitments. For some, it becomes necessary to wake up early to attend one of the few morning clubs, while others dedicate the time to catch some sleep and spend the afternoons excelling in their sport.
“My only days off are Sundays, and every day I spend on average two hours in practice,” said Sophomore Alanna Fleming. “[When] we have meets, I spend five hours at the track, but I will also have some time to do homework [while] I am waiting for my events.”
Fleming, a devoted athlete since her freshman year, participates in AHS sports year-round. Fleming is a sprinter on the track and field team during the winter and spring seasons. In the fall, she is a member of the AHS girls’ soccer team, but continues with soccer in the spring through a club team. When school ends for everybody else, Fleming continues practicing in the summer for both track and soccer.
Balancing a demanding athletic schedule, Fleming has to make the most of her free time when it comes to staying on top of her grades. She understands that being committed to a sport means letting go of perfectionism when it comes to her schoolwork.
“Since I know I have to get everything done in a certain time frame, I have to cram to get everything done,” Fleming said. “If you don’t get your work done right away, you don’t have that extra time after school.”
Like Fleming, senior James “Jed” Gallaudet, captain of the AHS cross country team in the fall and captain of track and field in the other seasons, has to balance his school work with track. Gallaudet said he was able to get all of his work done by relying on strategies such as keeping his phone in another room and making the most of H-blocks to be productive.
According to AHS Track and Field Coach Mark Hathaway, athletes usually have no issues balancing their homework and athletics. Hathaway believes that as long as athletes utilize and plan their time well, they will have sufficient time to complete everything for school.
Contrary to the belief that athletes will do significantly better during the off-season in academics, Hathaway has observed the opposite—students often maintain or even improve their academic performance while actively participating in sports. “We have a lot of athletes in their season [who] do better than when they are out of season because they have a set schedule,” he said. “When [they] don’t have anything going on, they go home, start procrastinating, and end up not doing the work anyway, so it doesn’t end up being as big of a difference.
Gallaudet was recruited by Colby College spring of his junior year and believes that staying on top of his school work was just as important, if not more, than his track practices. “Although athletics was one of the main ways I was able to get into the college I ended up being at, the only way I could really go there was because I checked the boxes academically,” he said. “Colleges are looking for people who are able to pass classes in college and show rigor in high school.”
Hathaway explains that coaches will always encourage athletes to do well academically and ensure their studies come before their sport. “Number one is family, number two is academics, and number three is your sport,” he said, “but they are always going to be kids who don’t prioritize school by their own choice.”
Being committed to practices every day after school for a minimum of two hours means missing out on AHS clubs that meet after school. Fleming is able to participate in clubs that only meet in the morning, but mentions that there are only a few clubs that do. For Gallaudet, he prioritizes practices over clubs.
“[Track] helped me get into a much better school, [but] to do a sport, you have to prioritize the sport, especially if it’s one you want to be good at, [and] that does mean missing out on things like clubs,” he said.
photo credit: AHS Sprinter Alanna Fleming during her 4×100 event
