Commentary by, Kevin Schuster:
In about 2 months, I will be graduating from HIgh School. Sometimes I like to look back on all my years of school, ever since I walked through the doors of my elementary school. In my mind I always believed that school was the most important thing in the world. You need to go everyday and do your classwork to get good grades or else you’ll have trouble getting a job when you’re older.
My whole life I have been following in my brothers footsteps. My brother always got good grades. He would come home from school and put in minimal effort but seem to always do great whereas if I didn’t study long enough I would be at risk of doing poorly. Many people are like me, and they make sacrifices, including quitting sports to spend more time on school work. But one thing my brother always believed in, and now when I look back at my own time in school, is that you shouldn’t make a sacrifice like that. People believe that the only form of learning is in the classroom, but that is entirely wrong.
I have played soccer since I was a little kid. Having multiple practices a week, and games three to four hours away on the weekends in the spring. But in that time, I learned more about how to be a leader and communicator than I ever did in a classroom. I had to work with a new team for an entire year, and then have the players change the next season. This was a never ending cycle of having to learn to work with new people. What this taught me was teamwork skills, because without it, my team would have done poorly. And teachers may say, “that’s why there are group projects in school”, but no athlete or any teenager for that matter, cares about what the topics are for those group projects.
Many times throughout my soccer career I had injuries, which led me to having to find alternative pathways to stay in shape or prepared for the field when I were to come back. I have also played poorly where my coach would put me on the bench while I look on whoever replaced me, knowing I can do better than him. This gave me a drive to work harder and try to do better not only for myself but the team. I had to manage my time now. Rather than procrastinating and doing school work here and there, I went to practice then worked my tail off at home to get my homework done.
My point is not to think less of schooling, there needs to be a balance. Without soccer I would have never gained so many leadership and responsibility skills. If you love doing something, do it. Don’t sacrifice for what you may think be the better choice or what others may believe. Doing what you love will give you skills you need that’ll help you in the real world.
The 91st minute 