It’s a well-known fact that student-athletes are under a lot of pressure, but is this issue directly related to the time they spend practicing since normal practice times differ from sport to sport?

Some athletes are more affected by practice hours than others. For example, a dancer, and freshman Lilac Brant, says, “On Mondays and Tuesdays, I don’t have that much time to do anything because I have dance for three hours.” While sophomore swimmer Myla Phelps told The Times, “I like all of our practices. It helps me forget about all that stuff [school work, the stress, etc.]…It’s hard for school work because sometimes it is hard for me to find enough time to get it all done, but it always works out.”

Practice times and the way they affect an athlete may vary between sport and person.
Henry Provano, a sophomore and track athlete at Lafayette, says, “I wouldn’t say the amount that we practice at track is effective for my school work, [practice] is about an hour or hour and a half after school 3-4 times a week.” Even though some athletes find school work difficult, others don’t find it as difficult. Senior Bryson Reynolds told The Times that his “Lafayette wrestling schedule doesn’t affect his school work at all”

High School Sports and Mental Health states that in a study done on collegiate swimmers, “68% of the college athletes studied met the criteria for depression.” This is “caused by the challenge of balancing it all.” Student-athletes have to balance a growing amount when you consider teammate relationships, workouts, and practices to school, work, family, and self-care.

Some mental health issues that student-athletes experience are sleep disorders, anxiety, and depression. Mental health issues, along with physical issues like injuries, concussions, and exhaustion from overdoing things can become very harmful.

Stress from sports often depends on the sport and athlete. Some sports are more demanding, which would involve less time to get work done.

The pressure of being a student-athlete can be overwhelming and difficult for all athletes no matter how much students practice a week. High School Sports and Mental Health has found that athletes with less stress and more focus can perform exponentially better.