Being a multi-sport student athlete while balancing time is an ongoing struggle. With class work loads piling up, along with hours of practice every week; students are often left with the burden of lost time.
Junior Dylan Frantz is involved in Football Cheer, Bowling, as well as Student Council. Like any student athlete, Dylan has to balance all of her activities on top of grades. However with the right steps, finding time can be simple. Dylan mentions, “Being in multiple sports helps build responsibility and time management by coaches and teachers holding me to a certain standard, which helps me stay motivated to be the best I can be.” Sports help serve as discipline, and with the right balance, the hard work pays off.
Cheer has helped Dylan build relationships that help build motivation when the workload and daily assignments become too much. Dylan mentions the long hours put into routines and stunts, saying, “I struggled in the beginning to stay on top of my homework, especially Homecoming Week when my coaches were strict on how they wanted the routine to look.” With these practices, there was no time for any fun or days with friends. However, Dylan decided to do something about her situation, she explains, “Cheer has brought me a great support system and always pushes me to do my best and be on top of things, so I took their advice and stopped procrastinating.” With a changed mindset, Dylan now feels that she can take on another sport, the right way. The Student Council has trained Dylan to be a leader, making taking responsibility second nature to her. She mentions, “Student Council is all about planning and management, so being in it has taught me many lessons about everyday life, as well as managing sports and school, while still having time to myself.”
When trying a new sport, Dylan knew exactly how to not burn herself out, sharing, “To not experience burnout, you have to have a strong mentality. Being in multiple activities has helped me to become stronger, and realize that stressing myself out does not really help me.” Knowing that she had the skills to balance another sport, she took on bowling for the winter sport season.
Coaches also realize the stress that multiple sports and activities put on their athletes. Coach Jen Sholl has noticed these positive traits in Dylan, despite bowling being completely different than cheer. Sholl says, “From day one, I could tell Dylan wanted to be better and would work hard to get there.” Using her strong mentality, Dylan was able to become better every day, without having to worry about her assignments due the next day, she says, “Though practice and meets took a lot of my time, I knew that if I had enough discipline, and got my assignments done after practice, I’ll be perfectly fine.” Taking what she learned from Cheer and Student Council, Dylan was able to have a successful season, while keeping up with everyday life and the workload that comes with it.
