“My favorite thing [about gymnastics and soccer] is definitely the teams. I love all the girls in both sports and we all always have so much fun together. I love being able to hang out with the different groups and people that I might not normally hang out with and I always love getting to know the new team members and welcoming them into our family. It’s always so rewarding to share the sports I love with my friends and be able to share the successes with such fun groups. As for balancing school and sports that can get tricky sometimes. There have definitely been a lot of stressful late nights throughout my high school career where I would get home from a game or competition late at night and still have a lot of homework to do. I don’t get a whole lot of free time so I’ve really had to learn how to use my time wisely. I typically try to plan my whole week out in advance and get as much work done on the weekends as I can so that I have time during the week to do any random assignments thrown my way. But many of my teachers have been very understanding and helpful in the past and my parents always offer to help with stuff when I get stressed out which is so appreciated and helpful.” – senior Lauren Hayden