Here at Pingree, we have many students who have to face the challenges of focusing on academics, after-school activities, and club athletics. Below I’m going to talk about the perspective of me and Murphy Holden to show the skills we use to persevere through challenges we have to face day to day.
For myself, I have a little bit of a different story than others. I am a freshman at Pingree but do not do a sport here on campus for our mandatory after school activities. I choose to do an independent activity after school. After my classes end, I drive to a local field near my home and do private lacrosse goalie sessions. While I do not participate in a school program, I still have athletic practice four days a week. Along with these private sessions, I also play on a club lacrosse team that has practice every Tuesday and travel tournaments or training camps on weekends. I also have to fit in going to the gym five days a week. While this could be hard at times, I love lacrosse and enjoy every opportunity I have to get better everyday.
I am also able to get all my homework done in school during breaks and free blocks or during the ride to school and back home. Once in a while I have to stay up late to do some work or spend some time with friends and family. While it has been a little hard at times, I am still able to manage through school work and practices and get through all of my challenges. But, if I had to label one thing as the hardest challenge I would say traveling to club tournaments.
During the first week of November I had to miss two days of school for lacrosse. I stayed home on a Friday and left my house that morning at 5:30am to drive to Maryland. After my Friday practice and weekend games outside of Baltimore, I didn’t get back till around 1:00 am on Monday. I was planning on going to school late but after waking up I did not feel well enough to go so I stayed home and finished my work online. After missing 2 days of school I had to do some extra work to get caught up and will have to do it again this week for another lacrosse tournament. So, in all, for me dealing with both a lacrosse life and a school life has been very difficult but manageable!
Murphy Holden is also a freshman at Pingree and currently participates in the women’s soccer program as an after school activity and plays for Laxachusetts lacrosse club. Murphy says her balance has also been manageable. Like me, breaks and free blocks are time she spends doing her homework or studying. After school she stays on campus to practice every weekday and has games regularly. Now, on weekends, she has Laxachusetts practice at 8:00am. Not being able to sleep in on weekends has been a struggle for her, but she’s able to catch up on some relaxation after the hour and a half practice. The main challenge that Murphy has to face is every other week she has to go to Laxachusetts night practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. After school, soccer and lacrosse, Murphy gets home around 10:30-11pm. This gives her barely enough time to complete the things she needs to do before bed.
In all, Murphy and I are challenged with time management to complete all of our tasks, but because of our love for sports, we are able to persevere through!
