High School athletics hold much pride and joy among student-athletes. Whether it be basketball, football, soccer, tennis, golf, cheerleading, dance, baseball, softball, swimming, wrestling, lacrosse, or whatever sport- it is your pride and joy. Now each sport is completely different, their athletes have different goals, different meets or competitions, different practices and drills, you get the point. There are a few things however that each High School student-athlete has in common; we relate in the sense that we are all juggling being a successful full-time athlete as well as trying our hardest to succeed academically. These are the top things I can pinpoint that most all High School athletes have in common:

1. You have to wake up before the sun even rises more days than not.

As a student-athlete myself, this one makes me cringe at the thought. Those mornings when your alarm goes off and it's still dark outside, you wonder why on earth you had to stay up so late the night before. 6:00am comes way to soon...

You have probably laid in bed contemplating how you are going to drag yourself out of bed, while also wondering why you chose to play this sport. Once you finally get up out of bed and to your practice, you're instantly reminded of your love for the sport.

2. You probably eat more than a grown man.

Wait, eating an entire large pizza with a pint of ice cream after isn't what the average 18 year old girl eats? Oops.

Going out to dinner with friends or family is always a lot of fun because I can't even count the number of times I've heard, "Are you sure you can eat all that?", "Do you want to split a meal?", "How are you still hungry?", "Wow, you actually ate ALL of that?". Yes, it may be a shock that I just consumed nearly someones entire caloric consumption in one meal, but hey, I burn nearly 2,000 calories a day. Can I have seconds?

3. Do you even remember what it feels like to not be sore?

As a swimmer, I can say that I can not remember the last time my back and shoulders weren't sore. A massage from my parents and probably a total of 2 hours spent icing daily is a regular routine.

I forgot what it feels like to not have my back and shoulders ache every time I move, or to not have knots covering the entire length of my back. Hmm, what is pain anyway as a competitive athlete?

4. A social life? Ha

The amount of times I've had to turn down weekend plans or weeknight plan with my friends is probably sad. The amount of times my family wasn't able to go on a Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Summer vacation because of practices and meets is probably even more sad.

Being a competitive athlete absorbs your time, but that's not necessarily a bad thing because your love for the sport overpowers all else. Sure, sometimes I wish I could just go out for the weekend with friends- but then I remember the more work I put in, the more results I will see.

5. Dedication is one of the top adjectives people will use to describe you.

Some of the most dedicated and hardworking people I have ever met to this day are my fellow student-athletes at my High School. It takes a certain amount of will-power to spend roughly 20+ hours a week training, studying and doing homework, finding time to spend with friends whenever you get the chance, and spending time with family.

Dedication to the sport you play comes easy when you love what you do, you never really think about how much the sport absorbs you. That is love for the sport.

6. Stress

Stress. It's one word, but I know it hits any student-athlete hard. The stress to train hard and perform well, the stress to study and keep your grades up, the stress of time management, the stress of failure, we all endure it.

Sure, being a student-athlete comes with a lot of perks. I mean, you get to represent your school while doing the sport you love. Certainly though, we have all had those nights where we feel like crumbling down. Probably mid-season when school is getting tough, the pressure to manage it all suddenly feels like too much. However, our hard-working nature and overpowering perseverance is what consistently seems to keep us going. Never ceases to be anything but the best we can be.

High School is hard for anyone, but finding what you love to do during those 4 years makes it that much more bearable. Being a student-athlete throughout my High School career I believe has taught me the same, if not more than my academics did. You learn so much about yourself, about other people, and about life in general.

So I give a round of applause to all my other fellow student-athletes, keep on doing what you do.