Although illegal for underage students, high school drinking culture has remained a popular phenomenon for decades—often considered a high school ‘rite of passage.’ But for young, committed athletes, what’s the impact of a casual night of drinking with friends on athletic performance?
According to the National Library of Medicine, about 78% of student athletes have consumed alcohol, compared to the 60% national average of high school students. So does this discrepancy actually impact a player’s game-time performance, or is it just athletes blowing off steam from stressful games and practices?
Weekend party culture continues to drive a wedge between Paly’s student-athletes. On the one hand, students agree that athletes should be allowed to do what they want and make their own decisions; on the other hand, some students feel strongly that drinking shouldn’t be tolerated under any circumstances during the season.
Some Paly athletes, like Matt*, who has requested anonymity, believe that drinking can both have positives and negatives.
“Our team’s stance is that it [drinking] is fun and they [the team] have normalized it,” Matt said.
Different teams have different policies. Typically, teams will bar the use of alcohol, as having even a few athletes participate could impact the whole team.
Despite drinking being somewhat common in high school sports culture, many athletes
argue that alcohol has serious negative effects that affect play during the season.
“Drinking is something that should not be a form of having fun but unfortunately it is,” Matt said.
“I believe that it 100% negatively affects the players ability to perform in the long run.”
According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), while alcohol may appear harmless in the moment, its impact on athletic performance can quietly build over time, often showing up when it matters most. One of the most immediate ways alcohol affects is through hydration and recovery.
For Paly athletes such as *James, a name used for anonymity, who opposes drinking, the issue goes beyond personal choice and extends to performance and accountability.
“I’ve heard that it messes with your sleep, hydration and recovery,” *James said. “Even if you think you’re fine, it shows up at practice and during games when you’re tired or not playing your best.”
According to the NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association), “Beverages containing greater than or equal to 4% alcohol can increase urine output, ultimately delaying recovery from a dehydrated state.” When recovery is compromised, athletes will feel more fatigued, sore or sluggish during practices and games. While a single night of drinking may not feel very impactful, repeated use throughout a season can gradually wear down any athlete’s body.
Beyond sleep and hydration, alcohol can also interfere with muscle recovery and growth. Based on NSCA analysis, alcohol decreases muscle protein synthesis, even when athletes consume adequate protein after exercise. When one athlete’s focus or recovery is compromised, it can affect the entire team. Holding teammates accountable becomes a way of protecting both performance and team culture during the season.
“I believe athletes should confront other players if they believe they are in potential harm,” Matt said. “An example would be an excessive use of alcohol; in these moments athletes should look out for each other.”
Hangovers present another challenge for in-season athletes. According to DeconstructingStigma, investigations conducted using animal models have revealed that adolescents are less sensitive to some of the impairing effects of alcohol, like sleepiness and loss of motor control, than adults. Associate professor and neurologist Marisa M. Silveri has directed the bulk of this research.
“In adult humans, these impairing effects of alcohol serve as internal cues that tell them they have had enough to drink,” Silveri told DeconstructingStigma. “Teens, however, are significantly less affected by sleepiness and loss of motor control, so they end up binge drinking and achieving higher blood alcohol levels.”
While some athletes may try to push through during practices or games while feeling unwell, doing so can increase the likelihood of injury and decrease overall effectiveness on the field or court.
“There have been a few instances where a few teammates have come to practice hungover or under the weather due to drinking,” Matt said. “Even though it’s especially hard for high schoolers to avoid drinking due to the amount of parties, it’s important to stay responsible to ensure your actions don’t affect the team.”
Despite these risks, some athletes continue to view drinking as harmless, particularly when it is framed as a team bonding activity. However, the long-term consequences may outweigh the short-term social benefits. High school athletes preparing for the recruiting process need to ensure they perform at the highest level to increase their chances of receiving an offer to play at the next level. Colleges can even pull athletic scholarships if athletes are caught drinking underage or if there are underlying issues caused by drinking.
“At parties, student athletes need to be really responsible, especially if they’re hoping to be recruited,” Matt said.
While some athletes view drinking as harmless or even beneficial for bonding, others strongly disagree, arguing that alcohol has no place during the season.
“I’m not a fan of it [drinking],” James said. “When you’re in season, you’re supposed to be locked in, and drinking just feels like it goes against the whole point of being on a team.”
Frustration can also build when teammates drink before important events. According to James, those decisions can impact more than just the individual.
“It’s annoying,” James said. “It feels like they’re not taking it seriously, and it affects everyone else who’s actually trying to win.”
When one player is not fully prepared, the entire team reaps the consequences, especially in high-pressure games where focus and conditioning are crucial.
Despite the prevalence of party culture, some athletes have found various ways to avoid drinking without completely isolating themselves socially.
“Try to stay with teammates who are also focused, keep busy with work and stay focused on your goals,” James said.
This doesn’t require skipping all social events altogether—many athletes feel that personal boundaries play a key role when avoiding drinking at social gatherings.
“I don’t necessarily skip parties during the season, but I at least hang out with people who respect my decision,” James said. “I just remind myself that a couple nights are not worth messing up the season.”
For athletes who share similar mindsets, avoiding alcohol during the season is not about missing out, but about staying committed to their team, goals and performance when it matters most. A Paly athlete who has requested anonymity and will be named *Harry aligns with this viewpoint.
“Drinking during the season should be something to be careful about,
especially as an
athlete, because it definitely affects the way you perform, recover and focus,” Harry said.
*Erin, a freshman at Paly who has requested to stay anonymous, also chooses to align her points of view with the lifestyle choice of abstaining from alcohol as she believes that drinking can really only have negative effects on athletic readiness and performance.
“I’m totally okay with others drinking and doing what they think is best for them, I’ve seen them [teammates] play well in many conditions,” Erin said. “I just think overall having alcohol in your system, especially at a non-legal age, only has negative effects.”
Beyond the chemical impact on the body, the lifestyle choices associated with it can be just as damaging to an athlete’s routine.
“Obviously, everyone’s body is different, and I can’t speak for anyone in particular, but I think drinking and staying out late definitely affects people’s performance,” Erin said. “I can’t point to a specific example, but if I were to make an educated assumption, I would say it’s got a negative impact on how much energy you have, your mindset and we all know that sleep is really important to growth and recovery, so doing that the night before a game would never be a smart choice.”
Erin also argues that drinking alcohol doesn’t just strain physical growth and recovery, but it can also strain teammate relationships.
“For athletes who do drink, just think about how you will feel when your teammates see that you’ve done this, and how it’s gonna make them feel if you lose,” Erin said. “Think about others and not yourself at that moment.”
This sense of mutual accountability is often put to the test during social gatherings intended to unite the team. In order for teammates to get closer to each other, many teams will have team bondings to build chemistry. At team bondings, drinking can be promoted and teammates may feel pressured to drink to fit in. According to Centerstone, approximately 90 percent of teens have experienced peer pressure.
“It’s really easy to get pressured into drinking because you don’t want to feel left out and that’s a feeling nobody wants to have,” Harry said.
Teams often drink to celebrate after a big win, which some may see as a reward for their performance.
“After a successful victory against our rivalry team, a player suggested that we go to his house to celebrate with food and snacks, while playing games at the same time,” Harry said. “There were a couple of people who were drinking and would offer others to participate. If the person politely rejects the offer, the person offering would try to make the person seem ‘lame’, which I feel is completely unnecessary.”
FOMO, or the fear of missing out, is a struggle that many athletes face when attempting to avoid drinking when their peers are involved in social activities revolving around alcohol.
“No one should be forced to do something they don’t want to do, just to look ‘cool’ and to fit in,” Harry said.
While Harry speaks to the social weight of fitting in, student captains have turned that philosophy into action. Senior and varsity girls’ water polo captain Estelle Dufour assumed this responsibility during the 2025 season.
“When it comes to being pressured into drinking, no matter who it is, if it’s a teammate pressuring someone else, or just any person-on-person interaction, no matter if they’re an athlete, pressuring someone into drinking is unacceptable,” Dufour said. “That would be something I would step in and try to help. To me, this would look like just butting in and saying, ‘No, you don’t have to.’”
Regardless of one’s captaincy, looking out for a teammate or peer should always be a top priority for the Paly athletic community as a whole.
The pressures to drink as a student-athlete are ever-present, even for captains, so how do they deal with these pressures in addition to the responsibility of keeping an entire team on track?
“Drinking in-season has always been very much frowned upon,” Dufour said. “As captain, I definitely expressed to the team that an individual’s choice affects the team as a whole. We also acknowledge that we don’t have any real power in affecting their decision, but we wanted to make it clear the rules of the team and what it means to be a part of the team.”
This mindset is incredibly important not just for all team members to uphold, but for captains to reiterate and set a good example especially for younger and more easily influenced players. This responsibility is one that captains don’t necessarily realize belongs to them at first, but as the season progresses, this priority becomes increasingly important.
“We definitely tried to prevent drinking or at least make sure that they [players] are aware of the consequences,” Dufour said. “Especially before big games, we reminded the team that it was important to prioritize your teammates instead of prioritizing a night out.”
Ultimately, the choice to drink during the season forces a compromise between immediate social acceptance and long-term athletic goals. While peer pressure and team bonding often normalize the culture, the biological reality of hindered recovery and disrupted sleep remains a constant obstacle to performance. For the dedicated athlete, navigating this “rite of passage” is less about fitting in and more about the personal and mutual accountability required to stay locked in for the team.
