Between school, extracurricular activities and sports, students often find themselves busy throughout the week. According to Embark Behavioral Health, students who are involved in multiple sports throughout the year can often be affected by injuries, overtraining, sleep and anxiety. These factors affect athletes’ performance on the field or the court, as well as in school. Why is recovery essential for these athletes and how do they go about it?
Junior Delia Gregory is a multi-sport athlete, participating in basketball during winter and soccer and track during both winter and spring.
Gregory said that recovery was essential, especially during the two-week break between seasons with no sports.
“Miles, our trainer, helps a lot,” Gregory said. Ice baths are crucial for leg recovery. Getting a good rest and eating well is really important as well.”
Gregory also stated that coaches play a significant role in athlete recovery.
“They [Coaches] understand that we have multiple things going on outside of our sport, so they’ll adjust the workout depending on how we’re feeling. During games, they will make subs more frequently,” Gregory said. “For track meets, you can just run what you want to run. So if you’re not feeling like running your race, you don’t have to run it.”
Recovery is something that can affect Gregory’s daily life, including her well-being.
“When I don’t get enough sleep, because I’m doing homework, it affects me a lot. I feel so much fatigue in my legs and I go home tired. It’s kind of a chain reaction,” she said. “When I do get good sleep, it’s awesome, but then, I won’t have my homework done.”
Gregory also explained how recovering versus not recovering affects other teammates.
“Recovery is definitely something big because they need us for soccer, but if I can’t go a full game without feeling super tired, they’ll have to put subs in and that might affect our team,” Gregory said. “During the track, they need us for relays, and if we’re not fully recovered, our overall time will be affected.”
Junior Malia Nicholson had similar opinions regarding recovery, and said that “recovery is vital.”
Nicholson’s sports include cross country during fall, indoor track during winter, and track and field during spring. She said that her recovery during the two-week break between sports seasons includes getting extra rest, catching up on schoolwork, giving her legs a break and hanging out with her friends.
Nicholson said that coaches are very forceful about athletes taking breaks for both their mental and physical health. “They try to have you do recovery stretches and runs to get your body recovered.”
Nicholson also said that recovery is an essential practice to prevent injury.
“It impacts my day-to-day life since I take time out of my day to recover, especially during the two-week break,” Nicholson said.
Nicholson went on to explain how recovery positively affects her performance.
“It [Recovery] gives my body time to rest and puts my body in the best position.”
Sophomore Patrick Smith is in the same boat as Gregory and Nicholson. He is involved in soccer during the fall, basketball during the winter, and golf during the spring.
During the two-week break in between seasons, Smith said that although school sports aren’t in session, he is still involved in sports on his own time. “It’s really tiring mentally going from soccer to playoffs, then conditioning for basketball. It’s just a lot on my body.”
In terms of coaches’ assistance with recovery, Smith said it’s mostly on your own.
Smith also explained that not recovering will affect his performance negatively. “If you don’t recover when playing sports, you’re more sore, slower, and for me, it hurts my knees.”
