Imagine taking a job that required you to be at work from 9-12 hours a day. This job doesn’t pay any money and leaves you physically exhausted regularly. This is just the scenario that some of the most dedicated athletes at our school are facing.

Most high school students don’t have much free time considering they go to school five times a week, and participate in sports, work, or music after school.

According to a 2011 article in US News and World Report, 55% of high school students participate in one or multiple sports at school. Although these are a lot of fun, it isn’t the only place you can play sports.

A lot of students also compete in club sports. This additional responsibility can take up a lot of time after school and at tournaments on the weekend. Club sports can help people have better time management, considering people need to focus on academics and participate in the sport.

“If I don’t take advantage of my study halls and/or free periods to get homework done, then I have no time to do homework or study at home. I have to go to practice then come home late, eat dinner, shower, and it’s already late at night by that time,” said sophomore Abby Lagasse who plays club soccer with FC Sarasota. 

The reasons for taking on this commitment are varied.

Most people take advantage of club sports to get noticed by scouts, in hopes they will earn scholarships for college for that particular sport. But only about 460,000 students go into the NCAA which is National Collegiate Athletic Association.

“I started playing tennis when I was six, and I’ve been training non stop all these years to get a scholarship. It finally paid off when I got a full ride to Boston College. The recruiting process was really time consuming. When college coaches start calling me I had to put in a lot of time and effort to determine which college I wanted to go to,” said junior Maria Ross.

Some people play to get better for their school season.

“I’ve been playing club volleyball since eighth grade, because it has helped me grow as a volleyball player and get better for school season. It also keeps me busy during off season, but I don’t want to continue playing in college,” said junior Greta Holland who plays for Priority One, a local club team.

Regardless of motivation for playing club sports, students meet people outside of their school, and for ODA students seeing new faces is a nice change. Interested in getting involved? Try contacting a local club sport provider to learn of clubs in your area for your sport of interest.

Here’s a short list to get you started:

• Volleyball: Suncoast, Venetian Bay, Wave, Priority One
• Baseball: Burn, Scorpions
• Lacrosse: Manasota Lacrosse Club, Monsters, Sarasota Seahawks
• Rowing: Sarasota Crew