How to Balance Your Education and Sports

No matter what you may hear, your education is your highest priority, especially if you want to play a sport in a post-high school setting.

Let me say it again for the people in the back.

YOUR EDUCATION IS YOUR HIGHEST PRIORITY, ESPECIALLY IF YOU WANT TO PLAY A SPORT IN COLLEGE.

The reality is most collegiate athletes don’t  play professionally, and regardless of how many rebounds per game you get, you’ll be out in the real world one day without a clue if you don’t invest time and effort into your education. This is why knowing how to balance your education and sports is so important.

If you still don’t believe me, here are some statistics from the NCAA.

Let’s say you’re a football player in high school, and your ultimate dream is to one day play in the NFL. Your chances of playing sports at an NCAA school is a beefy 6.8%. But you wanted to go to the NFL, right? You’ll probably have to play at a Division I school, which reduces your chances to 2.6%.

Say you make it that far. The chances you get drafted to the NFL from an NCAA school is 1.5%. So, as a current high school football player, your chances of achieving your ultimate dream is a fresh 0.102%. That doesn’t include the percentages of playing in a professional sports setting.

I am not here to crush your dream, but there’s a good chance (99.898%, actually) that you’ll need a backup plan. You need to value your college education, starting with what you do right now in high school.

Playing competitively in high school is hard. I know, I’ve been there. You have to balance going to school, practices, homework, and games on the weekend. You get tired and overwhelmed. But even your high school education is crucial for building good habits for the future. Trust me – no matter how many AP classes you take, college will be much more challenging.

How do you balance your education and sports in high school? I have three pro tips:

1. Plan Ahead

You’ve heard it repeatedly. I know it gets old, but it’s true – planning is essential when balancing education and sports. Who knew? As a student-athlete, you have a busy schedule and must stay on top of things. Especially if you miss school for a competition, contacting your teachers about what you miss is essential so you’re not hit with seven missing assignments at the end of the semester.

I recommend using a time-management tool, like a planner. You can see when you’ll be missing school, when assignments are due, and prioritize which homework to tackle in the time you have. Planning is particularly helpful when you get to college, as your schedule becomes even more packed.

2. Learn to be Mobile

If you get car sick, I’m sorry. However, completing homework in the car can be a lifesaver! More often than not, someone else is driving you to and from practice and competition. That’s usually a perfect time to knock out a few things on your to-do list.

Planning helps. Being mobile means taking what you need with you, which requires you to decide in advance what assignments you’ll tackle. There’s nothing worse than attending a weekend-long tournament without the book you need to read for a project due on Monday.

3. Get Help When You Need It

Sometimes life gets overwhelming. For some people, taking six AP classes and doing four sports isn’t a big deal.  For other people, that would never be possible. There’s no shame in telling someone you need help because, more often than not, there’s a way they can relieve the burden a little bit. And you’re not the only one.

Choose a teammate to be your study buddy, and do your homework together on trips. Drop an unnecessary class for a study hall period, so you’re not pressed for time at night and can sleep for once. There’s nothing wrong with lightening your load. 

Try these three things out and see where they take you. Hopefully, they’ll help you achieve better grades without compromising your athletic performance and vice versa. There’s a way to balance your education and sports, but you need to put in a genuine effort to make it work.

I’ll say this one more time: the worst thing you can do is think you can rely solely on your athletic ability to get into any college you want. While being skilled in a sport can help, college coaches find that high school prospects who are dedicated to their education are far more valuable. They tend to have the character, drive, and humility to become successful individuals, not just athletes. In the end, athletics will only be a part of your identity. You might as well make the rest of it something worthwhile.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Erika Yohn is a former goalkeeper for the Purdue University Women’s Soccer team. She served as captain during the 2017 season and earned Academic All-Big Ten and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honors in 2016. She graduated in December 2017 with a B.A. in Mass Communication, a minor in Management, and a certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.  

A native of West Virginia, she helped her Morgantown High School team secure a state championship in WV in 2011 and was named WV Goalkeeper of the Year in 2012. Her club team, Mountaineer United, claimed the state title for eight consecutive years, never conceding a goal in state cup play. She was a member of the Region I ODP team in 2010 and 2014 and took part in international tournaments in Costa Rica and Croatia. Erika also graduated from high school in 2014 with eight Advanced Placement credits, achieving a cumulative GPA of 4.28.

Eventlink^® is the best-in-class software for schools and athletic departments. Trusted by schools nationwide, Eventlink is the go-to tool for Athletic Directors, coaches, administrators, parents, and students to manage day-to-day activities for each season. Eventlink streamlines game and practice schedules, e-contracts, facility management, digital tickets, athletic websites, and more. It simplifies the workload for schools and athletic departments while providing a user-friendly, ‘One Spot’ platform to connect with their parents, students, and community.