Vista del Lago High School has many sports teams for students to participate and show-off their real talents. They give students  time to take their mind off of school and have fun. However, sports may be affecting students’ education.    

Students participating on teams have to balance sports and school. They have to focus on getting good grades so that they can continue playing the sport for school.

Three of the sports that students can join at Vista are Lacrosse, cheer, and volleyball. Practices for these sports usually start at 3:30 p.m. and end around 5 p.m.

Courtney McPeak is a freshman cheerleader. “My cheer ends at 5 p.m., and I start my homework at 6:30 p.m.,” McPeak said. Since cheer practice ends so late, she  doesn’t much  time to study and do homework.

“It is harder to get good grades because sports take up a lot of time. Also, when you get home from a sport, you don’t want to do homework,” McPeak said. “Sometimes I do regret cheering because it gets busy [and] because some days I have to do other things after cheer, like go to an extra tumbling class and also coach for cheer,” said McPeak.

Another student at Vista also balances school and sports. Sofia Gelerter, a freshman on girls’ lacrosse,  practices for the spring team. She starts practice at 3:30 p.m. and ends at 5:30 p.m. “I get home at 6 p.m. and usually start my homework at 6:30 p.m.,” Gelerter said. She tries to balance her homework and sports, but she knows that school is more important.

“I have less time to study, but I have always done sports so I don’t really know the difference. I don’t know what it’s like to not play sports,” Gelerter said, “I still get good grades, as well.”  

But being on a team also has advantages. “Lacrosse, overall, helps me with school because I have time to take a break and run around and have fun at school. But sometimes, I will regret going to practice because I have a test the next day, but I don’t regret playing sports,” Gelerter said.

Dannae Godinez is another student-athlete at Vista. During volleyball season, she gets home at 6 p.m. and gets busy on her homework and studying. Despite the lack of time she has to do her homework, she thinks that it is better to play sports than not. “It is better when playing sports because while playing sports, it’s stress-relieving and then when you get home, you can focus more on school. Also, if you manage your time easily and you don’t mess around as much, you’ll be fine,” said Godinez.

Teachers also have a say on how athletes are balancing school. “It is good in that way, and it motivates them, but when they don’t make the team then they are like, ‘I don’t care anymore, and I am not good at anything.’ It’s sad too because then they feel like they don’t have any talents, and they bring nothing to school,” said Julie Makar, a Physical Earth science teacher at Vista.

Makar says making the team will also bring up their grades. “It will increase their grades. However, some kids will say, ‘I have a game so I can’t study,’ but that test is still going to be there even though you have a game,” said Makar.   

Vista sports are helping students with their grades and it is a great way to get your mind off of school.