High school is a place to find new interests like starting a brand new sport or joining a new extracurricular.
Some students often feel that they need more than just school in their lives. Going into high school, teens want a change, because they want more experience in life. Many students have joined a sport to look better for colleges. Another reason WS student athletes play new sports is because the sport they previously played has caused them a lot of pressure from their families.
There are many sports offered at WS for students to try new sports like lacrosse, track, basketball, and more. The most common sports that WS students try, without any knowledge, are track and lacrosse. There is a large population of athletes who have never played a sport, but took a risk to try it out.
Dominic Gibbs had recently quit basketball, which he had played for 5 years, to run track at WS.
“I tried out for track, because I got bored with basketball. With track it isn’t just about running. It’s about individual improvement,” said sophomore Dominic Gibbs.
Trying new sports can teach people things that they never learned from previous extracurricular activities. Student athletes have learned new things about life and even learned what being a part of a team really means.
“I learned that my team is family and I must support them through thick and thin,” said freshman Ainsley Buckner.
The students have many people in their lives that influenced their decision to try something new at WS. Family and friends have persuaded the people around them to try sports like lacrosse.
“I have relatives and friends who had already been playing, so I got really invested by going to their games,” said sophomore Hanna Bjarnason.
Family and friends can influence these kind of decisions, because they may like it so much that it persuades a person to do it as well.
There are some seniors at WS who have continued to play a sport that they knew nothing about in the beginning of their high school career.
Senior Emma Sharman continues to play lacrosse after trying it her very first time in her sophomore year.
“Lacrosse was more laid back and the girls are just really nice and I really liked Puhlick, I still do,” said Sharman.
There are qualities in these sports that teach new things and they continue to use their knowledge in their lives. Although hard work does follow through in both sports, Emma Sharman felt that she learned to work harder in lacrosse, because basketball had always felt natural.
“Lacrosse taught me hard work really does pay off. When you come into a new sport not knowing, you just work your butt off, it will pay off in the end,” said Sharman.