In the competitive environment of high school athletics, student athletes can struggle with juggling both academics and athletics. Ellie Brown, a sophomore track and field athlete, not only “makes it work” but is working hard to be a state qualifier for the 4×1 relay. Over the course of a week Brown was interviewed, being asked to describe a typical Monday through Friday schedule.
“From Monday through Friday, my mornings typically look the same. I wake up around 6:30 and get to school for my first class around 7:30. School ends at 2:17, and I have to go into the cafeteria to wait for track practice to start at 3:30, and usually ends a little after 5:30. On Monday, track practice is normally the day to seed for the meets that happen on Tuesdays. We time sprints and figure out what Tuesday will look like,” said Brown on her schedule on Monday.
It is very important to get a good night’s sleep the night before a meet. It allows your body to perform to the best of its ability the following day. To ensure this, Brown tries to be asleep by 10:30.
“The morning is the same as Monday, but track itself is different on Tuesday. Most Tuesdays, we have a meet,” added Brown. The track meets are typically on Tuesday’s, but it is possible to have two in a week which usually fall on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
In order to get amped up before she competes, Brown typically listens to music by Sza. On the bus, she always has a snack bag that she shares with her teammates, which helps the team dynamic and allows bonding.
“On Wednesday, the day following a meet, we normally get together and look at the results from the day before. The whole team gets together and we get to see how we all did. We then normally have a harder workout on this day because it’s not near a meet day,” commented Brown.
“Thursday practice is about the same as Wednesday. We do lots of running and jumping drills,” said Brown.
On Thursday nights, Brown also ensures all of her schoolwork for the week is caught up with and taken care of. Not only does she want to have good grades, she has to. The PIAA requires athletes to be academically eligible for their sports contest, which means students are pushed academically as well as athletically.
“On Fridays we do a lot of work on the relay. We practice handoffs and normally run through a whole one to try and improve our time. This year we are working on relays a lot more and there is already a noticeable change in our times compared to last year,” concluded Brown.
After a long week, Brown gets a much needed break on Friday’s after practice, where she can spend time with her friends or however else she wants to. She spends her Saturday mornings, however, working for her part time job in Easton.
With a schedule this packed, many student athletes are bound to burn out. Brown is careful about managing her time, which allows her to avoid burnout and instead focus on individual successes on the track and in the classroom.
