Diversity walks the halls of North, through ethnicity, sports, and pathways. Many students juggle various extracurricular activities with a rigorous course load. One particular way for students to stand out is by showing a strong ability to handle being on a school and club sports team. These individuals have a lot cut out for them – with ample amount of school work, school and club sports, and anything else in a busy teenagers’ life.
Brooke Hill, a junior doing Dual Enrollment with NAHS varsity volleyball and A5 Club Volleyball is one of the many students who participate in school and club sports. Hill decides to channel most of her drive into her sport rather than her school work, yet her self-awareness when it comes to procrastinating isn’t overlooked. She finds herself cramming her work all at once due to missing school mostly because of club volleyball. She grinds hard in hopes of achieving future scholarships. As Hill continues to advance in volleyball, her time has begun to shift from mostly schoolwork to volleyball. As she tries to keep up, she realizes that pressure is running with her. “Having to mentor younger girls for school volleyball leaves me stressed but so does club because I’m having to constantly fight for my spot at club,” she said.
As the leaves fall, soccer for Concorde Fire starts, and during spring her time goes to the NA varsity soccer team making this goalkeeper, Michelle Baek, have no time off. Baek finds it hard juggling a social life, IBDP, her club, working on a non-profit, and so much more. Her strategy is overloading on the days she doesn’t have practice or games in the week. Playing at a higher level drains her, dwindling her drive and causing more stress. Baek has demanding practices and a 30-minute drive home. When it comes to homework she gets it done at school on practice days but sets aside one to two assignments that will take a minimal amount of time after. “I’m full of stress, tears, and lots of late nights,” she said.
Club sports are known for their high-intensity focused practices and events that occur in order to give athletes a valuable skill set. It’s ability to create opportunities for an athlete in the future, like scholarships or enhancing the chances of being recruited also helps in the likeness of doing club sports. A greater exposure than any high school sport would be able to guide the audience to a compelling interest than doing a sport at school. However, school sports bring communities, foster collaboration in all grades, and create a mentorship environment. So for those who decide to challenge themselves by taking on both, many being the same sport, accomplishing the season may become harder than expected.