Freshman Karen Sun saw her middle school and high school years as an opportunity to expand into a variety of sports, eventually choosing to play both soccer and lacrosse. 

“I got into soccer to play with my friend. I started in middle school so I started pretty late,” Sun said. Then I started lacrosse this year with my friend too.”

While a large amount of students across the country play a sport, with 57% of students playing a sport according to Education Week, not many play more than one.

 Sun said playing lacrosse and soccer has led to scheduling conflicts, especially since she plays soccer year round.

“A challenge I face (is with) my scheduling. I have to make sure my parents are able to drive me to places and I’m able to go to practice, and sometimes (the sports’ practices) intertwine so I need to cancel one.”

Counseling director Rachel Cole said scheduling and time management is important for all students, but especially for those with multiple athletic commitments.

“We have multiple students who participate in more than one sport, so I think (the most important thing for them is) just learning how to balance their schedule,” Cole said. “Just keeping a balance helps.”   

Sun said she had to make sacrifices to balance her schedule due to her commitments.

“There’s a lot of clubs I want to do for school but I don’t have enough time, and also I can’t hang out with my friends a lot of times because I have practice,” she said.

Jesus Meija, tennis player, track runner and sophomore, said he also has to make sacrifices due to playing multiple sports. Meija said he cannot make serious improvement in either of his two sports since he needs to balance both.

“I usually train tennis the second half of the year and track the first half and when I start training for one sport I usually get worse at the other one,” Meija said. “It’s hard to balance them.”

  Meija added that while he still trains for a sport while it’s not in-season, he said that his training is more relaxed than it is for his in-season sport.

“I don’t train as hard as I should for the sport (not in season). Like if tennis is going on, I won’t train as hard for track,” Meija said.

While Sun said she is often busy playing both soccer and lacrosse, she enjoys both sports and is able to escape boredom.

“Some benefits (of playing multiple sports) are that I can stay fit, and I’m able to have something to do other than sitting around at home and doing nothing,“ Sun said. 

Meija agreed with Sun, saying that he is always able to keep himself occupied.

“I always have something to do,” Meija said. 

Sun said playing lacrosse and soccer has helped her stay motivated and improve both her physical and social health.

“I’ve made so many new friends from lacrosse and I really like running around and staying active, and (the sports) give me motivation,” Sun said.

Overall, Cole said she is glad to have students involved in various extracurriculars at Carmel High School. Cole said sports help students become connected with their school while also allowing them to create lifelong memories. 

“I think it’s important that students get connected to something. If sports are their interests I think that’s great,” Cole said. (Extracurriculars) help you grow and it helps you on so many different levels of skills, and it keeps you active.

“When you think back to school (later on),” Cole added. “Rarely do you think about ‘oh that great paper I wrote’ or ‘oh that math problem I solved’ instead you think about these experiences that you had outside of the classroom.”

Ultimately, while Sun believes later on in her athletic career she’ll have to choose to play only one sport, right now she’s happy playing both soccer and lacrosse with her friends and teammates.

“I think in the future I need to stay committed to one sport but I think right now I just like playing both,” Sun said.