The Perfect Student Athlete

By Hailey Malaska

Your high school years are considered by many to be some of the best years of one’s youth. A big part of high school for many people is being involved in clubs and school sports. In a small town where there are less than 500 kids in a high school, sports are an especially important fixture. For some people, high-school sports are just one of the many stepping stones in a further career in sports, and for others, high school sports are the peak of athletic achievement that could never be reached by any other accomplishment. No matter which way you play high school sports, they will be a big part of making you into the person you become later in life.

Because high school sports are the absolute peak of athletics, it is universally acknowledged that you must have played your sport since you were in diapers to even be considered to play on a prestigious high school team. Even though very little actual learning happens in high school sports, you are expected to know everything and never not know what to do or how to better yourself as a player. In high school sports you should be able to have a simple fix for any mistake or error.

The upperclassmen are there to always be great examples for the underclassmen. The juniors and seniors, although they are only a year or two older than the underclassmen, are seen as being grown and highly experienced, so they are the best people to deal with, teaching the younger generations how to get better. Many of these underclassmen will also not receive any playing time until they are older, but they are still expected to be ready when it is their time, even though they haven't been able to practice their skills in real-life situations. The skills and abilities of the underclassmen are often fostered by the upperclassmen who have been in their position and know that they must step up when the coach will not. The upperclassmen are often underpaid coaches who love taking time away from bettering themselves to help the younger generations, so that they are not hopeless in their sports futures.

High school athletes are also considered to be some of the most mature athletes and people in general. They have experienced so much in their lives thus far that they should be able to deal with any roadblock or personal issue without any help from others. Although these players are younger and less experienced than their coaches and role models, they should still be able to know the solution to any problem, even if it is completely new to them. They should also be able to deal with any issue between them and their teammates because they are so mature that petty little qualms should not affect them or how they play on the court.

These student athletes are also expected to be able to juggle the responsibilities of school work, leadership roles, jobs, practice, and games, and have a healthy social life all at once. These athletes are supposed to be the best examples for those younger than them; therefore, any slight mess-up or mistake is seen as a grave error because they are supposed to be perfect. These kids are expected to never struggle in school because it is truly not that hard, even when they are in multiple honors and AP classes and are officers of multiple clubs, along with their after-school sports. If these athletes are found to be struggling, instead of being offered help, they are made unable to play their sports without any second chance to do better because they never should have struggled in the first place.

The part of sports that high school athletes look forward to the most is the expectations of their parents and coaches. Although many parents show little interest in their child’s sports abilities, it is still completely understandable for them to expect the most out of their children because they always know best. These parents often never experienced what their children are going through; however, they still have the right to ask the most of their children without offering any support or comfort when they are struggling. These athletes enjoy pushing themselves to the brink to meet their parents’ and coaches’ expectations, even as the items on their to-do list continue to rapidly increase. Statements such as “It's not that hard” and “You are just complaining” are the fuel to an athlete's soul to let them know they are understood, and the people they look up to recognize that they are doing well.

In a society where high school athletes are the guinea pigs of the future, they are often praised for their successes through weak nods of approval and silent words of encouragement. These signs bring great confidence to high school athletes and make them feel that their hard work is respected and seen by those who care about them. Overall, these athletes are seen as having life easy, even if this understanding is derived from the people who never truly experienced it themselves.