Recently, at Fennville High School in Michigan, a 16-year-old star basketball player hit the game winning shot to end the game 57-55. What happened next left the crowd stunned. Fenville Junior, Wes Leonard, hit the ground and went unconscious.
Leonard was not only a basketball player, but was also on the school’s baseball and football team. The coroner’s office autopsy concluded that the 6 foot 2 basketball star had died of cardiac arrest from an enlarged heart. This tragic even calls into question if high school athletes are overworked.
“It was pretty sad, it must be hard on his teammates to focus after that,” said junior Zach Jarrett.
Many students at WS play multiple sports, and some even participate in more than one at the same time. It can be quite a task for students to balance social life and sports all at the same time.
“We have seven hours of school, plus two-three hours of practice, then homework, it really drags on,” said Jarrett.
Some sports are still going on when the other sports season is already starting. This can cause conflict for kids who play different sports in different seasons. Sophomore Marissa Lim plays basketball and lacrosse. Due to the Girls Varsity Basketball team making it to the state championships this year she was still playing basketball when lacrosse tryouts were being held.
“It was hard to get work done, there was no break in between seasons so the transition was difficult,” said Lim.
Students have a lot to balance on top of sports. Between school, homework, and spending time with family and friends, it’s hard to fit much more in and still expect to have time to sleep. WS has grade requirements to ensure that students are keeping up. High school athletes must pass at least 5 classes to be eligible to play.
“It is difficult to stay balanced and excel in both sports and academics,” said Lim.
Some might say that high school sports are getting too competitive, and overworking students. Leonard is an example of this. Although he did have an enlarged heart, he overworked it with excessive sports.
One thing sports do for kids is help them learn time management, when you have as much to balance as they do, you can’t survive without a schedule.
“I have limited time to do homework, I have to plan ahead and it can get stressful,” said Lim.
