I don’t know about everyone else, but when I get home from school, I need at least thirty minutes to decompress and relax before I start my homework. And more often than not, that thirty minutes turn into, well, a little more than thirty minutes. I’m someone who likes to get her work done right away, but I can’t do that without that little pause after school, which also takes up time that I could be using to do homework. Last fall, I didn’t think there was a solution to my problem. And then I joined high school gymnastics.
High school gymnastics practiced from 3-5 after school every day, a sharp contrast to the 5:30-8:30 club practices I was used to. I didn’t expect to like it, but I soon found that having a place to go and work through my energy gave me a mental break. After I got back from gymnastics, I was refreshed and able to jump right into my homework with less need for a break. I was more focused and worked faster because of the energy boost I got from gymnastics—and since I had nothing else to do besides homework on most days, nothing interrupted my motivation.
Needless to say, this revelation made going back to late-night club practices more than a little difficult. And as it turns out, I’m not the only athlete who prefers afternoon sports. According to Noah Siegal, a sophomore who does track at NHS, “Some days [practice is] a bit too much but I like that it’s a transition from schoolwork to training and then home.” For many people, afternoon sports create a more productive flow for student-athletes to best fit everything in.
Sammy Scampoli, a senior on the gymnastics and swim team at NHS, agrees, saying that “personally, I like having practice right after school because I have to come home from school and do more schoolwork when I have practice at night, while having practice right after school kind of gives me a break from school, and it gives me the opportunity to go to bed earlier and get more sleep. The only issue with having practice right after school is that it interferes with time to meet with teachers and get extra help after school.” Although it can be hard to get after-school help when sports are right after school, at NHS we are lucky enough to have times like X-Block to catch up on work and get teacher help. And as Sammy so articulately pointed out, not only do sports create a mental break and increase focus, they also allow students to get to bed earlier. (And given how early we wake up, getting to sleep is very important.)
Furthermore, when sports take place right after school, it saves time for both parents and students who have trouble driving during the work day. It is much easier for me to walk to the B Gym from my last class and get picked up afterward than it is to go home only to go back to school a few hours later.
Says Siena Uyenoyama, a sophomore on the cross country team, “I feel like I’m more productive around the night time, and if I had practice at night I feel like I would just go home and not do anything, but you have those good vibes from your run and it’s just easier to do your homework because you already did your run so you feel accomplished.”
The mental break between school and homework is something that most athletes can agree on, regardless of sport. Sophomore soccer player Ava Chiappinelli states, “I personally like it right out of school because it gives me a break after school and allows me to focus better on school.”
Sports being right after school is beneficial to students because it makes focusing on homework easier, allows us to go to sleep earlier, and creates a mental break for students.
I could have written even more, but instead I had to get to practice (at night).