<p>So right now, I'm having a tough time balancing keeping up with my grades, athletics, and trying to do community service, as well as participating in sports. I'll try to be as succinct as possible when I explain this, and I want to know if anyone is in the same situation or has any advice.</p>
<p>I love my sport, but it's taking a great physical toll and time toll on me. In a typical week, I do 20-25 hours of athletics practice. This does not include the 45 minute trip it takes for me to get to practice/45 minute trip home. Clearly, it takes up a lot of my time, and the majority of my other time is spent on school. I'm worried because I haven't done a lot of community service (really any; maybe 20 hours) and I'm a rising junior in high school.</p>
<p>I get very good grades (3.98 unweighted GPA due to an A- in freshmen honors geometry) but I don't have a social life at all nor do I partake in community service. Also, I don't do high school athletics, so I'm not really involved in extracurricular activities at school aside from one club (but, I got voted to an officer position- I'll be secretary next year).</p>
<p>I'm worried that I won't be able to get into a good college because of my lack of participation within my community. I also don't know whether I'll be good enough to pursue college athletics as I am coming back from being injured for 7 months (2 surgeries). I don't know whether I should give up on my athletic dreams for better chances of getting into college; I'd also be giving up seeing my best friends, because I never really built close friendships at school as I was always at sports. With no social life (which doesn't bother me too much) or community involvement, I am debating over whether continued sports participation is worth risking.</p>
<p>Anyone experiencing anything similar, or have any advice?</p>
<p>Where do you want to go to college? Also why do you want to go to that/those particular college(s)? (career goals, etc) That would help me answer your questions.</p>
<p>If you give up the sport you love, you’ll regret it forever. During freshman year I shattered my collarbone and needed plates and couldn’t play soccer for about 4 months, but I kept practicing and came back, and am hoping to play in college.
It looks much better to persevere than to give up, wouldn’t you say?</p>
<p>I think not having volunteer hours or participating in clubs is only a problem when you have a lot of time on your hands and aren’t using it productively but since you’re playing sports over 20 hours a week, I would consider it a non-issue. </p>
<p>Since you say you love your sport and quitting would mean giving up time spent with your best friends, I think you’ll deeply regret quitting. Stick with it. What’s more, my understanding is that dedicated participation in a sport, even if not recruited, is a solid EC for college admissions. </p>
<p>Like you, my sport leaves little time for anything other than school but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I love it too much. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>My sport also takes up a lot of time, but the commute isn’t that bad.</p>
<p>I would say, don’t give up the sport if you love it. Don’t try to fit everything in on weekdays during the school year. Use your weekends and summers for productive community service if that’s when you can find the time.</p>
<p>I think I was in the same position at one point so I know how you feel. My varsity sport takes up all of my winter nights and some mornings (Saturdays and some days of vacations). In the off season, I continue swimming with close to the same schedule. I think I’ve diversified my life a lot by taking weekends to hang out with friends that I neglected for years in favor of my sport and by getting involved in as many things this summer as possible while still keeping up with practice. I think my list of extracurriculars is looking a lot better now and I feel more balanced. But doing everything at once can be impossible.</p>
<p>I played basketball until eighth grade and, not to be cocky, I was pretty good, even got invited to the varsity basketball team in middle school as a forward. After that, I just gave up basketball, now I haven’t played since high school started. My net’s not even up in my driveway anymore, and I’ve lost my skill - my eighth grade shell would DOMINATE me today. </p>
<p>I miss the game like it was my son. What if I didn’t quit? I think that so many times today. The varsity team in my school sucks butt even though there’s two kids who are being recruited to play NCAA basketball (DIII though). What if I kept playing? What if I would have made a difference?</p>
<p>If you love it, keep playing. Not a hard question at all.</p>