Athletes at VHS typically get home from practice around 5:30 p.m. and from there they have to eat dinner, do homework, and manage to get enough sleep to do it all again the next day.  It can be a grueling schedule for those athletes who are committed to high academic achievement.

But, there may be a way to make this all a little more manageable for the student athletes – a sports study.

A sports study is a study hall for students who participate in athletics. These students would be exempt from physical education classes only during the marking periods that the student’s sport competes. For example, all those who play a fall sport would be exempt from gym in the first marking period.

The only thing keeping athletes in gym classes is the mandatory fitness testing and the requirement that a student has an hour of gym class every day. But, if a student plays a sport, they exceed this requirement imposed by the state. Additionally, students are required to maintain a passing grade in order to continue to participate in athletics. This study hall would allow athletes to keep the grade that they need in order to play.

“It would let me get my homework done earlier so that I don’t have to stay up as late to finish it,” says senior Heather Smith who plays lacrosse in the spring.

There is also a risk to the health and performance of an athlete if he/she continues to participate in gym. The student could be risking an injury that would take them out of their sport, all in the name of getting an amount of physical activity they are already getting from their sport.

Athletes at Verona High School are always students first, and it should be the mission of the administration to ensure that these students can succeed so that they can represent our school exceptionally in both athletics and academics.