Tips And Tricks For Any Student Athlete
By: Dorothy Hamilton
3/7/24
Here at EJHS we have a lot of sports, like basketball, tennis, swim, volleyball, cross country, football, wrestling, baseball, softball and cheerleading. All of these combined make it so that EJHS has a lot of student athletes, and each year more and more student athletes come in. Here are some of the best tips and tricks for new student athletes to get better at their sport and have more fun.
Starting off with some of our fall sports, fall sports that will be specifically featured in this article are volleyball and cross country. Starting off with volleyball “Practice every day in or out of school,” Meg Wilson, an 8th grade volleyball enthusiast had said. When it comes to volleyball games however, Meg said, “One of the most important things to be mindful of is the other team. You have to know what the other team is doing to score a point against them; it's not just a one-sided sport”. Our second fall sport that we’ll be covering is cross country. Since cross country is a difficult sport that requires a lot of endurance and strength 7th grade student Nico Babbs has a lot of advice. “Push yourselves everyday but also remember to have a steady pace,” Nico had said, when asked about practice technique. Since cross country also involves racing past your opponents to get to the finish line Nico had said, “make sure you stay head up facing your opponent and try to pass them and stay as calm as you can”.
Volleyball is a sport that requires lots of tecnique training and focus.
Audrey Gudmundson has been playing tennis since 6th grade, this will be her second year on the team.
The next sports to cover are the winter sports, winter sports that are being covered include swimming and basketball. “If someone were to join the swim team, I’d probably give them the advice to not psych yourself out. I know so many amazing swimmers who become so worried about an event that it affects their mode for the entire meet,” Said Avi Grile, an 8th grade member of the swimming team. Avi also said, “Some tips I have for practices are probably to put in your best effort even when that can look different on different days. Always try your best at practice and listen to what the coaches say. Also, if you’re struggling with a stroke, practice is the time to work on it without worrying about being too slow”. As for basketball, 7th grade female basketball player Alice Musselwhite has some advice, “The most important thing to be mindful of when playing in a basketball game is to stay positive, don't put your head down, and even if the game is not going well just remember you are getting better in the end”.
The final school year sport is the spring sport, girls tennis. Tennis can be a difficult sport between accuracy and concentration. “my advice would be to trust the process and that practice makes perfect. Also don’t stress out if you don’t get it right away because it takes a lot of time and patience to learn,” 7th grade tennis play Audrey Gudmundson had said, “I also think the most important thing is to make sure to have fun and be friendly and nice to the opposition team. Whenever you are friendly and have fun with them, it makes it a lot less stressful and more fun”.
Swimming involves lots of endurence and coordination.
Finally, what about tips that can help with any sport regardless if they were a part of this article. First tip (and one of the most important) is drinking enough water. In any sport when you sweat you can lose water and become dehydrated, this can cause headaches, low energy, kidney problems and eventually, passing out. Drinking water can prevent all of these and allow you to have more energy and feel better during practice or competitions. The second tip for any sport is to listen to your coaches. Coaches are experienced in the sport they’re helping with and by listening to them you can change the course of your entire game or practice. You can also fix issues in your technique that you didn’t even know about.
Those were all of the tips and tricks for student athletes who may want to improve. If you didn’t see a sport that you were a part of and want tips, fill out the google form at the bottom, If you want to see more tips for your favorite sports also be sure to fill it out.
Dorothy Hamilton: Dorothy Hamilton is a 7th grade journalist who loves to read and write, she has been in the journalism class two years in a row. She also enjoys art, music and singing.