In the high-stakes world of high school athletics, some students aren’t just competing—they’re doubling down. Athletes often pursue multiple sports for reasons beyond external rewards. Some chase personal growth, others crave new challenges, and many thrive on the variety of experiences that different sports offer. These motivations highlight the deeper connection athletes have with their sports, transcending competition alone.

At Paly, a majority of students have participated in a school sport since athletics are such a vital part of Paly culture. Some students play more than one sport per year – which may have initially stemmed from an interest in maintaining a “prep” period – but evolved into a much more serious commitment.

Physical education is a required class for freshmen and sophomores, however, when a student is participating in a seasonal sport, they are typically excused from PE to make up for after-school homework time lost due to team sports schedules. To be excused from PE and gain a “prep” period, a student must obtain a coach-signed paper confirming the student is an actively contributing athlete on the team. 

Paly students are eligible to play one sport each season, so many student-athletes take advantage of this. There are three seasons for school athletics; fall, winter, and spring. Each sport has a typical pre-season training, which is usually the most physically demanding and intense part of the season, and when students are participating in both pre-season training for one sport and regular season games and practices, schedules can be very demanding. 

Sabrina Meyers, a sophomore at Paly, is a dual-sport varsity athlete. She swims on the varsity swim team and has been a starter and sprinter on the girls varsity water polo team since freshman year. 

“When I’m playing two sports at a time, sometimes I’ll have multiple practices in a day,” Meyers said. “When I get home, I am exhausted and I don’t have as much time to do homework or other work.”

Managing multiple sports can be rewarding but exhausting, as Meyers notes the toll on her time and energy. The Head Coach of the varsity swim team, Danny Dye, supports athletes participating in multiple sports during the high school season. However, his demanding training sessions often push swimmers to their physical limits.

“I’m a proponent of athletics,” Dye said. “I think athletics are very good for the students, mind and body, especially in a high school setting, because they’re representing their school. Their friends are there to support them, their teachers, parents, all their team, all of those positive aspects, are there to support the athlete.”

As a student, you are typically responsible for keeping track of your assignments to make sure you are turning in assignments on time and are prepared for tests. But, as a student-athlete, you are not only responsible for your academics but also your athletic performance. Being a student-athlete, you are forced to learn time management skills that allow you to split up your time and still perform to the best of your ability. 

“I believe that athletes are smart enough to know what it is that’s right for them,” Dye said. 

High school student-athletes spend on average 10-15 hours per week on sports-related activities during their season, with many dedicating even more time. According to Untapped Learning, studies found that 80% of student-athletes feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities at some point during the academic year. Even in the off-season, many students still maintain a rigorous schedule, with 67% reporting they spend as much time or more time on athletics as during their competitive season. 

Senior Svina Narang has been involved in competitive gymnastics for 12 years and high school diving for three years. Some sports such as high school diving, are only one season long whereas competitive gymnastics requires yearlong dedication with few and short breaks. 

“I definitely have had to learn to balance my time, and oftentimes athletic practice can take away from my time to do academic work,” Narang said. “I try my best to continue to do well academically, but learning to do so was definitely an adjustment.” 

Even though Narang has learned to manage her time, the intense training and stress on her body caused her to suffer during her freshman year from a stress fracture in her spine. A stress fracture results from overuse of certain muscles/bones, and usually occurs when physical activity puts too much pressure on a bone and it doesn’t have enough time to recover. 

“Gymnastics is very physically demanding, and impacts my body a lot,” Narang said. “Especially during competition season, practice tends to ramp up a lot. Because of this, during my freshman year, I got a stress fracture in my back due to lots of overuse.”

Although balancing multiple sports and academics can have negative impacts on some, other students argue that balance can be beneficial. Junior Jake Wang is a multisport athlete year-round and believes that staying physically active improves his mental activity and overall health.

“I think playing multiple sports allows my mental health and physical health to stay consistent throughout the year,” Wang said. “Playing sports and getting exercise allows me to stay on a routine, which allows my health to be consistent.” 

Conditioning is objectively the most important and the most physically demanding part of many sports. Therefore, being a multi-sport athlete doesn’t just take its toll mentally, but also physically. 

“Training can definitely be a lot both physically and mentally at times, but I have learned to have a balance,” Narang said. “I think it’s very important that I am aware of how much I am doing so I don’t overwork myself and burnout, which is really easy to do.” 

To effectively balance training and academics, student-athletes often explore various extracurricular activities. Participating in multiple sports allows them to discover their passions while developing time management skills and learning valuable lessons in teamwork and dedication.

“I have been involved in gymnastics since I was five years old, and I think getting involved in such a time-intensive sport at such a young age has allowed me to learn how to work effectively,” Narang said. 

Parents typically enroll their children in multiple extracurricular activities as a way to unlock doors for possible futures. Exploring different activities and experiences, including athletics, can help individuals discover their strengths and interests. As a result, as many student-athletes enter high school, there may be multiple sports that an athlete participates in, even if that sport is purely for fun. 

Balancing multiple sports can offer unique rewards, providing athletes with diverse experiences that can enhance personal growth, teamwork, and skill differentiation. 

“I love playing both sports [football and basketball],” Wang said. “Each has a unique team dynamic which I love, and the benefits of playing multiple sports are that each sport can help you with all-around athleticism.”

However, while the enjoyment of participating in multiple sports is clear, athletes must also be mindful of the physical and mental risks that come with juggling different commitments. 

Some student-athletes who play multiple sports have a “main sport” –which could be the sport they wish to continue at the collegiate level– and the other sport may be to fill a desire, like filling the stereotypical role as a high school football player playing under Friday night lights. Whatever the motive may be, the risks of playing another sport aside from your main sport cannot be ignored. 

According to John Hopkins Medicine, in the US, more than 3.5 million sports injuries occur each year. This is about 1/3 of all injuries sustained by children. One of the sports with the highest injury rates is football since football is an extremely contact-heavy sport. 

Senior Henry Harding recently committed to the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts to continue his academic and athletic career as a pitcher for the Division I baseball team. Despite his commitment to baseball, Harding decided that for his senior year, he wanted to train and play with the Paly varsity football team as a kicker. 

“I wanted to play football because I knew the football team’s strength and conditioning coach was very good and I wanted to get stronger for the baseball season,” Harding said. “I also wanted to join because I didn’t want to go all four years of high school having never tried to play football.”

While the reward of being on the football team seems substantial, the risks can still outweigh the benefits. As a committed athlete, coaches are committing themselves to the promise of the skill and health of a player, and being injured can cause serious liabilities. 

“I thought about the risks and I talked it over with my parents and my college baseball advisor, and we all thought playing as a kicker was a good idea since it would be unlikely that I would get hurt,” Harding said. “They also saw the upside of me getting a lot stronger and staying in shape for the baseball season.”

Harding is facing significant injuries, including a torn MCL, a torn ACL, and a fracture of the femur. As a result, he is expected to be out of action for nine to twelve months. When asked about his status at Holy Cross, Harding explained that his offer would not be pulled and he still has a spot on the team for the next season, but Harding is out for his senior high school baseball season. 

“When I gave the Holy Cross pitching coach a phone call letting him know about my ACL and MCL tear, he was very understanding and supportive,” Harding said. 

Harding, like many other multi-sport athletes, took a risk in his athletic career, understanding that by playing another sport his future in baseball could be diminished or impacted. Amidst these possible life-altering risks, Harding still chose to take the risk and fulfill his dreams of playing football in high school, even if it was just for fun. Even though his risk didn’t have permanent consequences, there are still very prevalent temporary consequences that could be possible issue factors in the future. 

“In terms of performance for the college season next fall it will definitely be a process to get back to the level I was at before my injury,” Harding said. “All of the coaches and medical professionals I have talked with are confident that I will be able to get stronger than I was before my injury, and focus during physical therapy will be on rebuilding my strength from the ground up.”

According to Athletes Untapped, while physical recovery is a crucial part of returning to competition, mental and emotional resilience are equally important in an athlete’s journey. The process of rehabilitation offers both an opportunity for renewal and a challenge that tests endurance beyond the physical. However, recovery must also balance against the broader concern in sports today—athlete burnout.

One of the most pressing concerns in athletics is the chance that an athlete may burn out at some point in their career. The pressure to do and achieve more in athletics is an exponentially increasing issue, and far too rarely is consideration given to the costs of operating in this non-stop fashion. 

“After years and years of playing a sport, expectations and competition build up and take away from the fun I used to have,” Narang said. “Coaches especially can add to losing your love for the sport.”

In reality, however, the human body needs recovery to thrive. Without it, performance can begin to suffer and an athlete can start breaking down. The state of burnout is often regarded as the endpoint of this breakdown process and is characterized by the absence of motivation as well as complete mental and physical exhaustion. 

Surprisingly, burnout is common in not just high school athletes but also college athletes. According to the NCAA, statistics show that 72% of student-athletes experienced a state of staleness during their sports seasons, 66% have experienced overtraining, and 47% reported feeling burned out at some point during their collegiate career. 

Playing multiple sports can help mitigate burnout among student-athletes by providing variety, which maintains motivation and enjoyment.

“I think playing multiple sports does help prevent burnout because each sports have different elements to them which can make them interesting for different reasons,” Wang said. “When you play multiple sports you get the best of your favorite sports, but you don’t usually get sick of them.”

The concept that increasing schedule load by playing multiple sports can help to mitigate burnout in a “main sport” can be surprising to some athletes. 

“Surprisingly, yes I think playing multiple sports helps to mitigate burnout in my main sport,” Narang said. “I think that even though I am committing the same amount of time to gymnastics even during diving season, I am not as consumed by one thing.”

Ultimately, being a multisport athlete is a balancing act between the risks and the rewards. For many athletes at Paly, the variety of experiences and personal growth gained from playing multiple sports far outweighs the challenges. 

Participating in multiple sports provides more than just physical conditioning; it also fosters mental health benefits, like the routine physical activity that Wang enjoys, and helps develop time management and resilience skills, as seen in the experiences of Meyers and Narang. It can help athletes discover new passions, stave off burnout, and cultivate a sense of teamwork and dedication. However, as Harding’s story illustrates, the risks are real. A torn ACL or overuse injury can derail not just one season, but an entire athletic future. 

Yet, for many, the joy of competition and the opportunity to represent their school or challenge themselves in new ways makes the gamble worthwhile. At its core, the decision to pursue multiple sports is deeply personal—one that requires a balance of passion, resilience, and commitment. While the road is bumpy and often filled with sacrifices, the experiences and lessons gained through multisport participation often shape athletes into more well-rounded, able individuals. The ability to adapt, manage time, and maintain discipline in the face of constant demands builds a unique resilience. These athletes aren’t just learning how to excel in different sports—they’re also mastering life skills that will serve them long after their playing days are over.

After all, the true value lies in realizing that limits are not finish lines but starting points. Each challenge, each hurdle overcome, reveals new potential and deeper strength, proving that growth happens when you push beyond what you thought possible. For multisport athletes, success is not just about victories or accolades, but about redefining what they’re capable of both on and off the field.