For many high school students, sports and extracurricular activities are more than hobbies. They can improve physical and mental health, reduce stress, build friendships, and develop confidence; however, balancing these activities with schoolwork can be challenging. 

Violeta Eastman, a senior at TCS who has played volleyball since seventh grade, believes that sports have helped her socially. She explained, “ I am in volleyball since I am on 7 grade and this actually has made me build a lot of friendships and relationships cause they are a lot of girls of different ages on the team so being in binationals or different tournaments has helped me to create friendships that I thought I would never have.” Her experience shows how sports can help students connect with others and build important connections. 

Volleyball has also helped Violeta develop confidence, she said. “Actually it has helped me improve my confidence since being in different places like binationals and tournaments has helped me develop my confidence by seeing what I can do and trusting my abilities.” However, she sometimes struggles to balance her responsibilities. “I balance them by trying to do all the schoolwork that I can at school and then going to practice and after that going home and finishing any extra assignments. I try to prioritize doing everything at school because sometimes I don’t have enough time at home. It is kind of difficult because I sometimes have to sacrifice going to practice” 

While Violeta emphasizes friendships,  a senior at TCS, Mariana Duque focuses on physical and mental health. She explained, “After being part of these extracurriculars has definitely boosted my physical health, and it also holds my energy levels as working out releases endorphins that make you have more energy for extended periods of time so it has been completely a positive impact.” 

Mariana also finds that sports help her manage stress that she receives from school work, she expressed “It helps manage my stress because having a space where I could just go and play sports and do physical activity both helps me with having an output for my stress and also having a moment in my day where I could just focus on other things outside school work and exams to just be able to have a moment to myself.” she added that “After participating in this activities even you that i feel tried i feel fulfilled because i just did something that i have a fun time doing and i know that i also feel more calm and it makes me have a better day because i feel i did something positive and productive” her perspective shows how this extracurricular activities are fundamental to provide a break from academic pressure. 

However, Julia Ocampo’s experience highlights the challenges of having a busy schedule. She shared that “I am on the school’s soccer team, where I train mostly 2 times a week for 1 hour, and I also participate in dance outside of school, where I do almost 2 hours a day for about 4 days a week since I participate in competitions and presentations.” She is involved in many activities outside of school, which requires significant time and energy. She explained, “Yes, this happens to me on a daily basis, especially on days when I have both soccer and dance at the same time, since I don’t really have time at home to complete very long schoolwork assignments. So when this happens, I don’t have the same amount of energy and calm to be in my extracurriculars since I feel overwhelmed by the other things I have to do and the feeling that I don’t have enough time.” Like Violeta, Julia struggles to balance schoolwork and extracurricular commitments all at the same time without feeling overwhelmed.  

Despite these difficulties, Julia believes the benefits outweigh the challenges. She said “even though sometimes it gets overwhelming and consumes a lot of energy and time. I think that it rewards me with a lot of positive aspects since these extracurriculars are fundamental for me, since they help me release all of the stress and concentrate on myself and my body. Also, I think that students who participate in these things develop skills of hard work, dedication, and time management”