How I Balanced High School And Sports



Anyone who knows me knows that I love sports! And if we just met online, do stick around - I would like to share this story about myself with you. My relationships with sports is an exciting one. I participated in sports from the first grade until grade 12.

I own gold, silver and bronze medals for positions 1, 2 and 3, a countless number of certificates (I really have no idea how many they are) and 1 trophy which the school kept. Competitive running was my favourite sport. I remember in primary school when I would decide to skip practice, one of the teachers would come to get me from the dorm. They would wait for me and get me to the school ground, and now that I think about it, they were helping me. When I got to grade 7, I ran and played netball - I was happy in sports!

As I grew older and got to high school, I needed to balance high school workload and sports as I didn't want to slack on either of them. The second year of high school I stopped playing netball and joined the girls soccer team which was form that very same year and I continued doing the 100 meters run. I never stopped running all my school life. It took some persistence but this is how I balanced high school as a sport person:

Studying
To balance high school and sports, I did my homework right after school because we had study time for an hour after school (dorm rules). If I needed to study, I studied in the evening as there was another study time for 2 hours every evening during the week and on Sundays. If I couldn't do my homework during study time, I did my homework the next morning at school before classes started. This was mostly during the week. It was honestly mostly a bad idea but I still did it other days and it worked.. most times.

Friendships
Looking back, I realise that I never really made a lot of friends in high school. I had people who I hung around at that time, the people I laughed and played with but that's about where it ended. I went to two different high schools and in each one I made just one friend. We still hang out and have fun. I really believe not having many friends helped me focus on what was important, and I think that was one of the best things I did.




Food
There weren't many options when it came to food. The dorm provided food and lucky for me, the food wasn't all bad, so I ate what came.  I couldn't miss meal time because if I did I'd be so hungry until the next meal ( we ate three times a day). I was just happy there was some starch, and I remember I drank a glass milk every single morning, and all these helped me keep healthy for school and sports.

Weekends
When it came to weekends I mostly did some laundry, especially on Saturdays, then I would relax and play. Yup, I did my own laundry in boarding school. I did not do anything sports related on weekends unless I had a game on that day. Weekends were for me and I made sure of it. of course I studied and did homework on Sundays.

I have no regrets when it comes to how much I've put in sports. Competitive running was my favourite, especially when it was time for relay! I'm so grateful to God for the gift of speed. I had so much fun with it and in the end, on time, I finished high school. Did you play sports in high school? Tell me about your how you keep or kept your balance in high school between your studies and extramural activities or sports?

26 comments

  1. Having a love for sports is great, I think sports for some young people have been pushed aside for technology. When I was at secondary school I did so many sports and after school clubs! As well as playing for a team outside of school. It sounds like you are doing well. Thank you for sharing.

    Lauren - bournemouthgirl

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    1. Sports should still be encouraged in schools. They help keep healthy. And yes, technology is kinda number one now, times are changing. Happy to hear that you were active in sports back in high school too! Thanks for your comment!

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  2. Enjoy your blogs thanks Jeannie 🙏

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  3. Emily Monyeki9 May 2022 at 16:15

    🙏🙏

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  4. Ooh I really enjoyed reading your story! I've never been one for sports but it sounds like you did an incredible job balancing it all and I can relate to how difficult it can be to balance school with a serious passion. I think your point about having little friends is really interesting too! Thank you so much for sharing x

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    1. Thank you for coming through and reading my story. I was really passionate about sport, it was my favourite thing! LOL, I still have very little friends. :) Thanks for your comment!

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  5. What an awesome post! It’s great that you were able to participate in sports and finish your education. Thanks for sharing.

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  6. I am and always have been super lazy so combining sports and study was never an issue for me! Congrats on your balancing tho :)

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    1. I like the honesty. LOL. Sport does require energy and interest. Thanks for your comment!

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  7. Mummy conquering anxiety10 May 2022 at 12:59

    What a great post. Congrats on managing everything. I am not personally a sports person, but I admire anyone who is!

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  8. When you say dorm, does that mean you went to boarding school? I guess that would explain why you were doing your own laundry while at high school

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    1. Yes. I was in boarding school/s. We had no one to do our laundry there. :)

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  9. Ah that's amazing that you practiced sports and had such a love for them at such an early age. I loved sports and physical education in school too and wish I had continued with it x

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    1. I'm happy to hear you participated in sports and physical activities. I hope you had fun with it! Thanks for your comment!

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  10. That’s really great that your able to keep a good balance. It can be very hard and I’ve experienced that with work but once you get a balance it works great x

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    1. Yes, it can be hard, and once you find the balance, you just got to keep at it :) Thanks for your comment! x

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  11. It was very inspiring to read how committed you were and how you manage to balance school and sports. Well done. Having a good time structure helps a lot as well as having food readily prepared. It's harder when we have to think about what to eat, what to shop, and have time to prepare it. Congratulations on your success in sports! x

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    1. Thank you so much, Vanessa. Having meals prepared daily at the dorm really did help out. It was one of the things I didn't have to think about. Thanks for your comment x

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  12. I use to struggle with the balance of both as I was very similar to you, I loved sports and was captain in the netball team at my school. Fitting study periods in was hard but you sound like you had an amazing way of balancing both and I take my hat off to you! Thank you for sharing your story with us lovely Xo

    Elle - ellegracedeveson.com

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    1. Sounds to me like you were physically active too and I like that for you. You even made captain! As for me, I had a blast. I did the best I could and it worked out. Thanks for your comment :)

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  13. Great post! Now as a parent, I'm in awe of how much time parents spend shuttling their kids to and fro for sporting events and other extracurriculars. Do you leisurely run now by participating in local races?

    Crystal | www.amazingbaby.app

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    1. Right??! It's such a busy world and finding that balance to get involved as a parent is just something else. Right now I don't run anymore. I don't even try to. 😅

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