We’ve all heard the saying, “Work hard, play hard.” For most, this life philosophy is true. However, for a student athlete the saying “Work hard, work harder,” is a more accurate description of the life they live.

For athletes at Air Academy, practices are every day a week during season. These practices generally run from 3:30 to 5:30. Games occur multiple times a week for most sports. Depending on the sport, Saturday practices are a possibility.

Most students at Air Academy have homework every night, ranging from 1-5 hours a night, depending on the difficulty of the classes the students are taking. Air Academy has been rated one of the top ten schools in the state for academic excellence.

In order to be eligible at Air Academy you can only have 2 D’s. However, most students keep incredible GPA’s throughout the season. For example, last year the Air Academy Girl’s Lacrosse Team won the academic state championship for having the highest average GPA of any Girl’s Lacrosse team in the state. One of these students being senior goalie, Isabel Marbaker, who graduated Summa Cum Laude with the class of 2016. With two and a half hour long practices and extended hours of homework, this was an incredibly difficult task, a task that few can handle.

One of Isabel’s teammates, Natalie Sannes, a senior at Air Academy, was asked how she manages her time between sports and school: “I try to do my homework and studying around when I have games so that I don’t get overwhelmed.”  It’s hard to find the balance between too much sports, not enough studying, and vice versa. How is a high schooler supposed to not let a ball drop? This is where the incredible coaching staff at Air Academy comes into play.

Coaches at Air Academy all have one rule in common: SCHOOL COMES FIRST. At the end of the day, what really matters about your high school career and what will influence your life greatly, is the grades you had. The coaches here at Air Academy know and respect that. If you are struggling between studying for that huge physics test and going to practice, your coach will understand that a good grade on that test is more important than a day at practice.

When asked what challenges she faces as a student athlete, Senior Katelin Gallegos, answered, “Sometimes being a student athlete is challenging because you really have to practice good time management in order to get everything done. Honestly, I get more done when I’m busier because I know I only have a certain amount of time so I hold myself more accountable.”

Accountability and determination are two qualities that these rockstar high schoolers all have. Being a student athlete teaches you more about managing time than any other task. The lessons learned by these incredible kids are ones that they will carry with them for life.