Balancing textbooks and practices, Massiah Mingo ’26 and Ayanna Watson ‘26 proved they can put the “student” in student-athlete at Bishop Gorman with dedication and hard work.
Juggling between school, work, and sports can be overwhelming because of things overlapping like, tests, games, and practices. This can cause stress and fatigue; however, it is important to maintain good academic performance because it provides long term opportunities on top of sports. Balancing both helps students succeed in all areas. For example, Mingo advised that one should not “put anything on the side, so as soon as you get your homework you should finish your task because you could fall behind.”
Watson stated, in alignment with Mingo’s advice, “It’s important to balance academics and sports because you’re going to end up failing a class, and you won’t be eligible to play to show off your skills and abilities”
Putting homework aside, causing homework and projects from other classes to pile up, is easy at the moment but can cause more stress in the end. Student-athletes are more prone to falling behind in their classes because of their heavy schedules. When students get behind, other important things fall to the side like sleep and good eating habits. Mingo mentioned his past experiences as a student-athlete, “Last year I was at Sierra Canyon High School, and they had a pretty big play book on top of school and everything, and sometimes I would only sleep for like three hours trying to study the play book right after school and homework.”
Similarly, Watson has also struggled when the studying piled up for her, “I’ve stayed up ‘till one in the morning staying up to study for tests that I had to take.”
Managing time between academics and athletics is really important and it helps build discipline, focus, and routine for student-athletes. These are all essential skills as they move forward in life, and they allow for better quality of life both physically and mentally. Watson also uses strategies to keep herself organized, “I manage my time for school work, games and practices by planning ahead and prevent having to follow up on everything by being behind…. I like to write my work down and I like to set timers for myself so I don’t get distracted.”
Family and team support can help a lot, especially when anyone has a lot on their plate. For a lot of student-athletes, loved ones serve as a key part of their successes. Watson said that “without the support of my friends, coaches, and especially my family, I’d definitely be a nervous wreck.”
Evidently, numerous things are crucial to the balancing of a student-athlete’s life, and it takes work to be able to do so. Whether it’s family, being determined, setting goals and reminders, or making sure to take care of one’s body, it’s extremely important for student-athletes to be on top of these things so they can maintain good performance, both in and out of the classroom.
