Student-athletes have long days attempting to juggle their sport, school work, homework and social life. Common Sense looks into six students who juggle school and sports.

Senior Matthew Cortes – varsity football
Matthew Cortes juggles the workload of his classes with playing and practicing after school. “For the majority of my day, it’s about the same as a regular student, but any chance I get, I’ll do any work I have to catch up since I usually won’t have time after school or practice,” Cortes said.

His senior year is not only filled with work but also a social life, and finding balance between the two, to him, is important. “I’m a pretty open person, so I find it easy to balance the two, but I’ll always put football first. I think the key is surrounding yourself with good people and great supporters,” Cortes said.

Despite the stress, Cortes is grateful for the experience football has given him. “Playing football has been the greatest thing for me in my high school career. I don’t regret a single moment, and I wish I could do it all again,” Cortes said.

Senior Troy Bailey – cross country
Troy Bailey is running for cross country while also running from class to class. “My typical day is usually very panicked and hectic with me dealing with my classes and having cross country practice afterward. I also deal with a lot of homework as I am in all AP and honors classes, besides one class, so I have my fair share of homework,” Bailey said.

Along with the workload of a regular day, Bailey also has to manage meets outside of school. “Before meets that are far or that take away time from school, I usually prepare by doing my homework before the meets. Not the best because I stay up extremely late, but usually very necessary in keeping me up to date with school work,” Bailey said.

Despite his stress and workload, Bailey would not give up his experience running for cross country. “I’ve learned valuable life lessons such as how to talk to the press, how to represent myself in public, teamwork, group bonding exercise, etc. Also, the memories I’ve made through sports are timeless, and I’ll never forget them,” Bailey said.

Junior Leah Antony – varsity girls’ soccer

Leah Antony is on varsity this year, after her two years on JV, juggling her work as a junior. “Typically after school, I go home and I usually eat something, and I have like an hour or so to do my homework before I go to practice for two hours, and I come home and do the rest of my homework,” Antony said.

Antony has a lot to do and doesn’t feel like she has a lot of time to do it. She mostly feels, “pretty stressed because I don’t have a lot of time to do my work. On a scale of one to 10, I’d say an eight,” Antony said.

With all that junior year entails, Antony sometimes regrets her choice to play a sport, “I’d say when I think about my school work, I probably regret it a little bit because it’s hard to do both, but at the same time I love doing soccer,” Antony said.

Junior Daniel Yaya – JV boys soccer assistant coach

Daniel Yaya was on JV boys’ soccer his first two years of high school before ultimately becoming an assistant coach for the team this year. “I stay after school for Wootton soccer practice until 4:30. And then I’m training until 7:30. I’m home by eight and start my homework at 9. I try to finish homework by 11 so I can play FIFA, create a session, or plan/watch game film for the team I’m coaching. I’m in bed by 1:30,” Yaya said.

Working as a coach instead of a player adds a lot for Yaya but ultimately works for him. “I don’t feel stressed as much as tired; I coach eight hours a week and practice 10,” Yaya said.

While this year is different from the previous two years, he never regrets either of his decisions to play and coach soccer. “Representing your school gives you a completely different feeling than playing club because you’re representing your school, friends, community, etc.,” Yaya said.

Sophomore Megan Lomotan – varsity girls’ soccer

This is Megan Lomotan’s second year on varsity and she works hard to juggle school throughout the year since she plays a sport every season. “I go to school and try to get as much homework done during the day because I know I won’t have that much time to do it after. After school, I go to practice, and it varies when practice is depending on the day or sport (like which season it is),” Lomotan said.

Her stress and workload vary throughout the week, “It depends on what’s happening in the week; if I have a lot of tests or assignments, it can get pretty stressful because I don’t have a lot of time to study,” Lomotan said.