At WHHS, balancing school work with your daily life is hard enough. But when you put practices every day for two hours in the mix, things can get a little hard to stabilize. This is how it is for the seventh and eighth grade basketball teams.

Tyler Bowers, ‘24, knows a lot about the stress of school and sports.

“I had to quit some clubs to keep my grades up,” Bowers said. “You should always work your hardest in everything you do.”

Gabrielle Nelson, ‘23, is also familiar with the struggles of a student-athlete. This three sport athlete knows very well what the difficulties are of balancing her various activities.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, just always try your best and you will be fine,” Nelson said. She recommends that focus is key to balancing the struggles.

Evan Tombragel, ‘23, is on the WHHS Eighth Grade Basketball Team and also has to deal with the challenges of being a student-athlete. There have not been many struggles for him but balancing sports, homework and other activities can be a lot to keep up with.

“You need to put your school work first and if it gets bad you may need to skip practice at times,” Tombragel said.

Tombragel advises to keep your priorities straight and limit unnecessary distractions in your everyday life.

With keeping all this in mind, being a student-athlete is a huge privilege, and if you can deal with all the stress that comes with it, you can truly succeed. If you find that you are struggling, you may have to make sacrifices to put what is most important to you first.

If you are interested in checking out these teams, the boys’ junior high basketball teams have games on Mondays and Fridays, and the girls’ junior high basketball teams have games throughout the week.