Participating in sports is fun, but it can be hard to balance your sport with schoolwork. With being active in sports, schoolwork, hanging out with friends, and having time to relax it can be hard to balance everything. How do you manage everything? I asked some students at Rocky that participate in sports, how they make sure to get their work done, practice for their sport, and still have time for themselves.

Ava Allen, a Rocky Diamond Dancer is a freshman here at Rocky. Ava also dances competitively at Impact Dance Center. The first question that Ava answered for me was do you find it hard to balance schoolwork with dance? Her response was “The schoolwork can sometimes get stressful and overwhelming but for the most part it isn’t hard for me to balance the two” (Allen). Ava has dance practices every weekday from 5:45-7:15 in the morning (before school) and then on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday after school. I asked Ava how she finds time to make sure that she completes all her work? Ava responded with “I just have to find time in between practices and school to get homework done. I try to stay on top of my schoolwork, so I don’t get behind” (Allen). Ava said, “I stay up late some nights to complete my homework, it stresses me out sometimes. But I try to not think about the schoolwork too much while in practice to reduce that stress” (Allen). Ava said she stays in dance because of the bonds she builds and the competitive aspect of dance. Ava also added that she feels it is worth it to stay in dance because she really enjoys it, and she is able to make up the work pretty fast. Another question Ava answered was, Do you think that something could change to help people like you stay caught up in school? “I don’t think anything could change. Most of my teachers are understanding and communicate well with me to help me stay on top of my work” (Allen).

Mylee Goto, another Rocky Diamond Dancer is also a freshman. Along with Ava, Mylee also dances on a competitive level at Impact Dance Center. I asked Mylee the same questions I asked Ava here are Mylee’s responses. The first question Mylee answered for me was, do you find it hard to balance schoolwork with dance? Mylee answered with,  “Yes I find it very hard to balance school and dance. Sometimes it can be hard to keep up on school week while having an extracurricular activity” (Goto). Mylee practices for 1 hour and 30 minutes every morning before school for the Rocky Diamond Dancers Team. She also practices for about 4 hours on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays at her studio. Mylee makes sure to get here work done by working on schoolwork after school, before she has dance or sometimes after dance. I asked Mylee what makes her want to stay in dance and if she thinks it is worth it to stay in dance she responded with “I like to be active in dance and I like to keep moving and keep doing things and rather not sit at home” (Goto). Mylee said it is worth it to stay in dance because  “Yes it is worth doing dance and it has a big impact on my life and even though I’m behind in school there’s always a way to fix it” (Goto). Mylee said that sometimes she does have to stay up late to get here work done and she said she sometimes doesn’t have motivation to complete the work because by the end of the day she is so tired. The last question Mylee answered for me was, do you think something could change to help people like you stay caught up in school? Mylee responded with “Something could change but stay up to schedule and don’t stress and write things down that need to be done” (Goto).

In conclusion, balancing sports with schoolwork and other life events can be challenging. Students at Rocky try hard to keep up with their work and be able to participate in their sport.