TheLounge
12-20-2007, 07:29 PM
The last couple weeks of December are a hectic time for everyone. With Christmas and other holiday shopping at a frenzy, along with possible travel plans and family get-togethers, it’s easy to see why the Christmas season is somewhat of a burden on everyone.
Students have the added “pleasure” of trying to study for and pass semester finals, adding to the cacophony of the season. I especially have sympathy for student-athletes. Trying to juggle school, a social life and sports in not the easiest thing to do.
That being said, finals and studying for tests does not excuse student-athletes from practicing or participating in games. You signed on to play sports, now it’s up to you to honor your commitment to your coach, team and school.
While waiting to interview the San Mateo girls’ soccer coach Tuesday following the Bearcats’ 2-0 loss to Woodside, I couldn’t help but overhear the team’s discussion about practice time for Wednesday. After a time was finally agreed upon, one player said there should be no excuses for missing practice. Another player grumbled something sarcastically about finals not meaning anything and without skipping a beat, a third player reminded her teammates that everyone was in the same boat — everybody had finals about which to worry.
Later, as I went to interview the Woodside coach, a parent came up to him and made mention of the players using their heads to study for finals instead of worrying about a soccer game. I said I didn’t agree with that.
He said, “You must not write for the financial page.”
To which I replied, “No, I write for the ‘You made the commitment, you should honor it’ page.”
There was no malice in the exchange. In fact, everybody had a pretty good laugh, but I was serious. Why is there a perception that sports aren’t as important as academics in high school? You can learn just as much playing on a team as you do in the classroom. Granted, it’s not like learning algebra or world history but there are lessons learned that can be applied in every day life for the rest of your life — interpersonal relations, being part of a team that is working toward a common goal and dealing with a variety of different personalities and beliefs. Believe me, some of the lessons learned in team sports will last a lot longer than knowing where Sudan is.
I know there is a tremendous amount of pressure for high school students to not only get into college, but get into the “right” college. Colleges and universities, however, are looking for more than just bookworms. Sure it’s nice to have a 4.8 GPA, but what else did you do in high school? Most colleges and universities would rather take a student with a lower GPA but someone who exhibited other pursuits than just pounding the books. They look for extra-curricular activities — sports being one of them.
Besides, would it absolutely kill chances of acing a final if a student missed two hours of study time? Which is basically the length of practice or a game. In fact, I’ll make the argument that it’s actually beneficial to take time out of a busy schedule and get your mind off of school for a couple of hours.
The bottom line is, it is up to students up to play their particular sport and all that it entails — practice and games. If students decide on a case-by-case basis when they want to participate based on other things going on in life, maybe the student should think twice about playing. If the student decides to play, he or she is obligated to give it 100 percent effort.
And just so you know, I was an OK student in high school. I could have done a lot better if I really applied myself but I didn’t want to. I didn’t get into the most prestigious university in the world — heck, I made my decision based on the fact that it was an hour-and-a-half closer to Tahoe and skiing. But I played sports in high school and intramurals in college and it didn’t affect my studies one bit. You may say, “Who are you? Just some guy writing about high school sports?” That may be. But this is what I wanted to do with my life. No amount of studying or having straight As all through school wasn’t going to change my mind.
Students have the added “pleasure” of trying to study for and pass semester finals, adding to the cacophony of the season. I especially have sympathy for student-athletes. Trying to juggle school, a social life and sports in not the easiest thing to do.
That being said, finals and studying for tests does not excuse student-athletes from practicing or participating in games. You signed on to play sports, now it’s up to you to honor your commitment to your coach, team and school.
While waiting to interview the San Mateo girls’ soccer coach Tuesday following the Bearcats’ 2-0 loss to Woodside, I couldn’t help but overhear the team’s discussion about practice time for Wednesday. After a time was finally agreed upon, one player said there should be no excuses for missing practice. Another player grumbled something sarcastically about finals not meaning anything and without skipping a beat, a third player reminded her teammates that everyone was in the same boat — everybody had finals about which to worry.
Later, as I went to interview the Woodside coach, a parent came up to him and made mention of the players using their heads to study for finals instead of worrying about a soccer game. I said I didn’t agree with that.
He said, “You must not write for the financial page.”
To which I replied, “No, I write for the ‘You made the commitment, you should honor it’ page.”
There was no malice in the exchange. In fact, everybody had a pretty good laugh, but I was serious. Why is there a perception that sports aren’t as important as academics in high school? You can learn just as much playing on a team as you do in the classroom. Granted, it’s not like learning algebra or world history but there are lessons learned that can be applied in every day life for the rest of your life — interpersonal relations, being part of a team that is working toward a common goal and dealing with a variety of different personalities and beliefs. Believe me, some of the lessons learned in team sports will last a lot longer than knowing where Sudan is.
I know there is a tremendous amount of pressure for high school students to not only get into college, but get into the “right” college. Colleges and universities, however, are looking for more than just bookworms. Sure it’s nice to have a 4.8 GPA, but what else did you do in high school? Most colleges and universities would rather take a student with a lower GPA but someone who exhibited other pursuits than just pounding the books. They look for extra-curricular activities — sports being one of them.
Besides, would it absolutely kill chances of acing a final if a student missed two hours of study time? Which is basically the length of practice or a game. In fact, I’ll make the argument that it’s actually beneficial to take time out of a busy schedule and get your mind off of school for a couple of hours.
The bottom line is, it is up to students up to play their particular sport and all that it entails — practice and games. If students decide on a case-by-case basis when they want to participate based on other things going on in life, maybe the student should think twice about playing. If the student decides to play, he or she is obligated to give it 100 percent effort.
And just so you know, I was an OK student in high school. I could have done a lot better if I really applied myself but I didn’t want to. I didn’t get into the most prestigious university in the world — heck, I made my decision based on the fact that it was an hour-and-a-half closer to Tahoe and skiing. But I played sports in high school and intramurals in college and it didn’t affect my studies one bit. You may say, “Who are you? Just some guy writing about high school sports?” That may be. But this is what I wanted to do with my life. No amount of studying or having straight As all through school wasn’t going to change my mind.