Young Varsity Athletes Balance Experiences And Heightened Competition
By: Ana Ruggles
High school sports are stressful. Now imagine being on a team with higher standards and with people with more experience. Not to mention the people you play against also being bigger and more experienced. Some players feel different stress levels than others. Well, four exceptional varsity athletes got interviewed and asked what it was like to be an underclassman on a varsity team.
Josaylyn Paskvan-sophomore-returning to varsity girls swim and dive,
¨it’s a really cool experience, it’s really good to see the upperclassmen succeed, and it’s really great to have them to support you because they are all very encouraging and nice, and it’s really great to know that you have some more years left.”
Josaylyn has been on varsity since she was a freshman, she is extremely talented and continues to excel at her sport making her coaches proud by staying dedicated and constantly excelling.
Griffin Bolhuis has been an exceptional goalkeeper and got recognized for this his freshman year and returned to varsity his sophomore year.
“ I mean it’s not that bad this year because we have a decent amount of underclassmen so it’s fun to play with my friends again on varsity .¨
As we see again, having good bonds with your teammates helps with the stressful conditions and the pressure you feel to keep up your status of being a good player.
Micheal Klomparens is only a sophomore on a varsity football team. Everyone knows football is a mental and physical challenge and yet Micheal didn’t even flinch when he got offered a spot on varsity.
“It feels scary, feels like there is a lot of pressure on you most of the time, but I mean it’s also exciting showing all the hard work you put in as a freshman to be on varsity the next year.”
You have to put in work not to be good at your sport but to be great and to be recognized for your greatness and accomplishments.
Lydia Nelson-freshman-varsity girls cross country,
“ It’s a lot of fun, being able to run with people who are older than me and really push myself.” Everyone knows running takes a lot of physical and mental discipline. Being able to have fun and put the work in is a hard thing to do. It’s a good thing Lydia Nelson already mastered it when she went on to run for varsity.
As we see, different sports have different stress levels and each player has a different way to cope. Some players don’t feel any stress with their sport and some have a lot, all we know is there is a wide variety of stress and it can change if you have good teammates, good coaches, and a good way to manage your time.