Making a varsity team as a freshman is a big accomplishment. Playing at this level as a young athlete offers many rewards for your future and career, but it also comes with many challenges.

“It is rewarding because I feel like I’ve worked pretty hard to get on varsity,” Lena Deruschi, freshman volleyball player , said.

Playing on a varsity team starting as a freshman will stand out to many colleges. It shows dedication and commitment to the sport. According to The Ivy Institute, the commitment needed to play a sport can translate into their academics and help them in class.

“When I apply to college, I can say that I was on the dance team through all four years of high school,” Noya Attias, freshman, said. 

Although being a 4-year student athlete is a big achievement that is worth celebrating, it is common for freshmen to get stressed out and find it hard to keep up with their academics.

“It’s definitely difficult because you’re playing with girls who obviously have more experience than you, and it’s a lot mentally,” Deruschi said.

Playing with students who are a few years older than you can typically push you to try and play better. Sometimes it can be a good push, and sometimes it can lead to falling behind in school.

In a survey done by the National Library of Medicine, 200 student-athletes, between the ages of 16 and 17 years old, filled out a survey about stress caused by sports. Around 91 percent of all the students who play a sport had experienced some type of stress. The two most common causes of stress found were fear of failure and self-pressure. 

Sports in general can cause a huge amount of stress. About 27 percent who were experiencing stress wanted, but did not receive, help from any medical professional. Although out of all the participants experiencing some level of stress, only 18 percent believed that receiving help from a medical professional would not be helpful or useful. 

Although playing on the varsity team takes the focus of many student-athletes, some freshmen will unknowingly let their academics slip because of how much pressure is on them.

“I think you need to have a good mental and physical standpoint but if freshmen are missing one of those components then I can see them struggling to keep up with school,” Jason Kradman, head football coach, said.

If freshmen lack the mental aspect it might cause them to experience more stress, which could lead the athlete to having trouble in school. Keeping up with high school work freshman year can be challenging as it is, but also having the weight of performing well in a sport can add to the pressure.

“You practice almost every day and have a couple of games during the week. There could be evenings when you come home at eight, maybe even nine o’clock at night. And again, you have to balance your coursework and personal life,” Scott Selvidge, Athletic Director, said.