IT TAKES A HUGE TIME COMMITMENT TO BE A PART OF HIGH SCHOOL TEAM

Some student athletes give their all for their sport and are rewarded with recognition and media attention. Others just give their all.

Athletes at the high-school level not only sacrifice afternoons and summers but also grades and social lives.

IHSAA rule changes allowing expanded summer practice have made busy athletes busier. Y-Press interviewed athletes at North Central High School in Indianapolis and West Central High School in Francesville, in northwestern Indiana. Multi-sport athletes are particularly affected by expanded practices, they say.

While all of the athletes have trouble reconciling sports with other activities throughout the year, it is in the summer when their various sports demands have the potential to compete with each other.

Busy summers

DAVID DIETZ, North Central, baseball and tennis: I play tennis in the mornings and baseball at night, and in the mornings I'm actually missing baseball weights three days a week, and our baseball coach isn't real lenient about missing workouts. And then on top of that, if you want to go on vacation, you pretty much get everybody mad at you.

CHAD SPANN , North Central, football and track: I made it to state (in track), which took me all the way into early July, which is when football summer conditioning starts. So I actually had to miss quite a few practices.

WHITNEY EHRLICHMAN , North Central, soccer and softball: For soccer, you wake up at 8, go to a two-hour practice of either running or drills. Then you go back at 3, 4 maybe, for another two-hour practice. And then for softball, we usually have doubleheaders every Tuesday and Thursday.

KATIE SALTSMAN , West Central, basketball and softball: For us, basically it's just conditioning and weight lifting and you don't really do anything. You prepare for the season, but it's not like plays and stuff like that. They're said to be optional, but if you expect to play, you're expected to go.

SCOTT EVANS , West Central, football, basketball and golf: Yeah, you have to basically come to every practice to know what's going on and to get better at what you're doing.

Benefits of summer practice

MORGAN REDMAN , North Central, soccer: I think it helps a lot because we always start games right about when school starts, which is only two weeks into August, and two weeks of practices doesn't really give you time for having tryouts and learning to play (on) the team and everything. So it's good to have some practice before then.

LINDSEY STEVENS , West Central, basketball, softball and golf: You become really close with the people that you play a sport with. You make good friends and you make memories that you won't forget.

Year-round balancing act

KATIE : I have missed a whole week of basketball in the summers because I always take a mission trip, and we're not penalized for it, but you miss a lot in that week.

MORGAN : I quit track because it just takes up so much time. Basically, I would have track practice after school every day, and then I would go straight to (club) soccer practice until 7:30, and I wouldn't get home until 8, and I would still have to do all my homework.

Academic impact

DAVID : While coaches proclaim that they care about your academics and things, they're not very flexible.

GRANT DAVIS , West Central, football, basketball and baseball: Sometimes you don't have time for homework, and sometimes you just want to do something else that night, like if a bunch of your buddies are going to the movies.

Social impact

DAVID : It completely interferes with what I'd like to be doing socially. Your time is really limited, and the time you do have is few and far between so you don't really establish a rhythm socially.

RYAN HOWAT , West Central, football, basketball and baseball: It does take up a lot of your time, but you know that's going to happen. So if you're going to be in a sport, it means you're going to dedicate yourself to that sport and put your social life and stuff off to the side.

Bottom line

WHITNEY : With the summer training and everything, it definitely gets you so sore, but it also gets you so ready for conditioning as opposed to waiting for that conditioning until like two weeks before games start, when you're more prone to getting injured if you're not as well-conditioned.

RYAN : I think it's a good thing and a bad thing, but I'm more for the good thing because it helps you get better, helps you work as a team when you're not expected to work as a team, and it makes you better.

Sports in their futures?

KATIE : I'm not planning to go to a certain college for a sport or anything. I play basketball because I've loved the game forever. I'm not a star.

CHAD : I am actually getting recruited in both sports, so I am going to continue both.

MORGAN : It's my goal to play D1 soccer in college.

RYAN : I'd definitely be up to the challenge, but don't feel like pushing it too much.

LINDSEY : I have been offered a scholarship, but I don't know if I'm going to take it or not. I'm going into nursing and it's a really hard major, and they have clinicals that you can't miss.

REPORTERS: Anna Beyer, 12; Katie McDowell, 13; Alyse Phillips, 11.

It takes a huge time commitment to be a part of high school team