Many student athletes you may know now may have not been where they are today based on the choices that they made even before freshman year started. When most athletes enter high school they are faced with many possibly life changing choices about the sport they play that could affect their future in that sport. 

Jenna DeVetter, a sophomore on the varsity cheer team at Bowie has been allowed to compete in both school cheer and cheer outside of school.

“When I entered high school I did have to think about whether I would be able to do both school and club, also known as all-star, cheer but I love each one in its own way and I wouldn’t be able to be myself without both of them,” DeVetter said. “So I decided to do both.” 

Many athletes are not allowed to be on both their school team and a club team. They have to make a choice between the two because usually the coaches for the club team want their athletes to be focused on that one team and not to be focused on two different teams. 

“It wasn’t very hard to make the decision between school and club soccer because the club team I play for offers me great opportunities for my future in soccer,” sophomore Luke Hanna said. “I do wish that I could play for the high school team but the benefits of playing club outweigh the benefits of playing school.”

Hanna is doing club soccer for the Lonestar’s under 17 USSDA team and is not allowed by his coaches to compete in both school and club soccer. Another thing the athlete has to think about when making this decision is how it could affect their success in that sport overall. It could burn them out doing both. It also might be that they might not be able to do both because of the constant big time commitment doing both comes with. But, It could make them grow a lot in that sport. The more practice, usually the better they will get.

“I think doing both definitely affects my success in the sport positively because it gives me more time to practice and perfect my skills,” DeVetter said.

The final decision can have a huge impact on that person’s high school experience and their success in both their future in that sport and their school work. When being able to do both their schedules can get filled with practice after practice, game after game, and it can sometimes become too overwhelming and their grades could suffer if they aren’t careful. They definitely have to manage their time wisely to get all their school work finished and to achieve good grades. 

“My school work is difficult to get done sometimes but I use fit and when I get home from cheer to do my work so I make sure to get it done because school is a priority,” DeVetter said.

Not just the athletes get affected by the club sports not allowing kids to play on their team and their school team, but also the bowie sport programs. The concerning part about this for Bowie sport programs is that many great athletes are taken away from them because they want to be on a club team that will not allow them to be on a school team. 

“Not being allowed to play both club and school sports limits the amount of players that the coaches can select from. This makes it harder for the coaches to find enough quality eligible players to make a good team,” Hanna said.

The decision can change their future in that sport and can be quite stressful to make. But doing what is best for them is what should be the priority. It can be kayotic at times, but it should always be fun. 

“Sometimes it gets to be too much doing both. But I have to remember why I love the sport and that gets me back to not being stressed,” DeVetter said.