As a wrestler and football player, sophomore Tylor McDonald works hard to balance his academic life with his athletic life.

Sports are time-consuming for McDonald. He said, “I go to practices six days a week with only Sundays off. Monday through Friday it’s after school from 3pm to about 6pm and on Saturdays, it’s 6-7pm in the morning for football. And for wrestling, it’s from 3-6pm Monday through Friday and then on Saturdays about 7am-3pm for the tournaments.”

While going to multiple practices a week for multiple hours each practice, McDonald said he believes that sports don’t affect his grades negatively. He said, “I don’t really get poor grades on tests and I rarely miss assignments because I think I’ve found the perfect balance between doing work, studying, going to practice, and working out.”

Another benefit of sports that McDonald said involved the minimum GPA required to play. He said, “I think the main reason I try to make sure my academics are good is because of athletics in the first place because if your grades aren’t good you may not be able to play. Sports motivates me to get better grades.”

On the other hand, McDonald admits he’d be “less stressed” if he used more of his time studying and doing homework instead of going to practices. “There would be more time in the day to do the things I want to do,” he said.

McDonald’s mindset is greatly affected by his workload. “If I’ve just done a ton of stuff in school and I already know I’ve got a ton of homework I definitely don’t want to go to practice because it’s going to be an extra thing I need to do and takes time out of the day,” he said.

However, McDonald said stress isn’t enough to leave him unmotivated. He said, “I can’t ever stop working. If you feel distraught you just got to remember that other people are doing the same thing you’re doing so you can’t be the only one complaining.”

McDonald also said some physical benefits to sports. “Without sports, I’d have too much energy without a place to release it. Sports also keep me in shape,” he said.

Overall, McDonald believes that “sports benefits [him] greatly.” He said, “It does help me because it gives me something I can work for.”