Playing sports used to be my whole world. Back in elementary school, you weren’t anybody if you weren’t involved in a rec. sport. Pretty soon, you were in middle school joining club teams and contacting colleges. Then, you enter the world of high school sports, playing with kids four years older than you and six strenuous practices a week if you make varsity.

While some of my friends have been committing to colleges for Division I sports, I’ve been quitting almost every sports team I was involved with, and I really couldn’t be any happier.

I quit Skywalkers club lacrosse fall of my freshman year, and Pipeline soccer last winter. And this year I’m giving up all high school sports besides the soccer program.

Club became all about college recruiting and I want to go to a big school and I don’t think there’s any way I’d play DI sports. It wasn’t fun anymore and added so much stress to my life, along with insane time commitments rushing from practice after school to club practice and having multiple games for different teams and sports on the weekends.

Don’t get me wrong, high school sports have given me some of the best experiences of my life. But, if I’m being honest, the only team I really care about at all is the varsity soccer team, which I’ve been a part of since freshman year. As for all of the other sports, I think I go about a month before I get so sick of it and honestly just burnt out.

For the first time ever, this winter I have time to spend after school on weekdays. I got a job, I can go to the gym, hang out with friends, just go home and actually have time to do homework; the possibilities are endless.

It has improved my mood significantly. I’m nowhere near as stressed as I was this time last year; I can focus a lot more on what makes me happy.