Image from Tarika Vishwas
With finals, AP exams, tournaments, long practices, and games, time for WHS student athletes can feel like it’s constantly slipping away. For many, exhaustion is part of the routine and a calm, relaxing day sounds foreign.
So what’s stopping them from quitting?
For varsity captain Tarika Vishwas, volleyball has been a part of her life for seven years. She plays both club and school volleyball, spending 12 hours a week in practice alone, with tournaments on the side as well. She has been on the girls’ varsity volleyball team since her freshman year, surrounded by a competitive environment that constantly challenges her to be her best.
While the physical demands are obvious, with inevitable injuries and late nights leading into sleep deprivation, the mental health pressure is just as significant. Constantly pushing oneself to be better and feeling overwhelmed or unmotivated can negatively affect academic performances. Yet throughout all these challenges, the thought of quitting has never entered Vishwas’ mind. She has managed to excel academically and be a star student-athlete.
“It can definitely be hard, because it’s easy to feel burned out,” she explains. “But I know that I chose to take hard classes and I chose to play this competitive sport.
I try to tell myself that I’m doing this for a reason,” Vishwas says. “As a competitive athlete, you have this desire to prove to others that you can be the best. And sometimes that can lead to me putting so much pressure on myself to prove that on the court.”
Looking over her high school career and the past seven years of playing volleyball, one of the experiences she cherishes most comes from a tournament during her junior year of high school. During the week before AP testing, she was not only able to travel with her team for a championship tournament, but they won as well. A proud moment like this can only encourage a person to want to keep doing what they love.
As Vishwas recalls, “I managed to get all A’s, good scores on my AP exams, and on top of that winning the championship made me feel super proud.”
Similarly, Varsity Girls Basketball Captain Afifa Syed shares her experience, saying that she has never considered quitting and has been able to balance all aspects of her life. Syed has been playing basketball for the past five years and has played for Washington’s team all throughout high school. As a hard-working athlete, she also spends a significant amount of time on sports, just like Vishwas. To avoid burn out, Syed has her family, friends, and coaches as a support system and takes time for herself regularly. Basketball season, as a winter sport, goes throughout finals week, which is challenging for some students. “Since our school schedule is a lot shorter during finals week, it definitely makes it a lot easier to study with all the time before and after practice,” she says.
For Syed, the love she has for her teammates adds on to the motivation she has for playing basketball. “We’ve all become closer throughout the years, like sisters,” she says. Instead of practices draining her, the experiences she gains with her teammates pushes her to keep the energy she has to be better each day. Although during her high school career she has dealt with some coaches who have negatively affected the way she has viewed her sport, a positive mindset kept her going and the thought of the success of her and her teammates got her through it all.
Both Syed and Vishwas have become examples of the successful student-athletes at Washington, achieving good grades and constantly improving in their sport as well. Both were also eager to share advice with any incoming high schoolers who were worried about being able to balance their schedule: “I know it sounds easier said than done to keep your balance, but you feel super proud of yourself at the end of the year,” Vishwas says. “Being a student-athlete has taught me so many lessons and traits that I wouldn’t have had if I wasn’t participating in such activities.” Syed agrees, saying, “Don’t fall behind on school assignments, but if you make the sport fun for you, the experience will be fun and worth it overall.”
Gazelle Rahimi, currently a senior at Washington High School, was born and raised in the Bay Area, but she is ethnically from Afghanistan. This is her first year with The Hatchet, where she is excited to cover stories about students’ daily lives and how both the local and global news can affect it. While she has a passion for writing about social justice and activism, some of her other interests include baking, hiking, travelling with friends and family, and learning new languages. Her future plans include studying economics in college, before going off to grad school in the field she plans to pursue.