An opinion | by MADALYNE BIRD

It’s 8 p.m. on a school night. I sit over my American history book, my eyes drooping, my body exhausted, taking notes. I have been sitting at the same table for almost three hours, I can feel myself re-reading the same sentence over and over again. I can”t focus because all I can think about is what I have to do next.  

My eyes skim my planner for the sixth time that night. The list of things I need to do seems to grow every time I look down. All I want to do is take a shower and crawl into bed. My dad offers to get a pot of coffee started, I have a long night in front of me. I softly decline, I don”t want my body to become used to being hyped up on caffeine constantly. This has become a common theme in my nights this year. When school rolls around in August, I know what”s coming.

I am a proud, third-year, varsity golfer for good ole’ STA; however, this comes with its consequences. The grueling hours spent trying to balance school and golf. Up at seven and at school till three. Golf practice from three to six. Homework until I can”t function. 

I know I’ll struggle in school from August to October.

Golf isn”t the most physically exerting sport that can be found, but I miss more days than I want to, nine to be exact. It is an inconvenience to my week requiring constant planning and talking to teachers, rescheduling tests, turning in homework early or late. I have to make sure that teachers know I”m going to be gone and that I don”t have any missing assignments in any classes. It never seems to end and I always fall short with my efforts at inventory.

So far this semester,  I have missed five days of school and left school early on four different occasions. I am scheduled to miss four MORE days of school and leave school early five more times. I am stressed out. The fact that I miss so much school isn”t just an inconvenience to me though. It is [an inconvenience] to my teacher and my fellow classmates, who now have to wait an extra day to give and get their tests back. I feel guilty for causing so many problems. But choosing between school and golf is difficult. Obviously, my classes are important and I try as hard as I can to make them a priority, but golf is also a priority to me too. I”m looking into playing collegiate golf, so my future is also dangling with it as well as school. So earlier in the school year when my grades weren’t good and my parents were pressuring me to choose between the two, I faltered. 

“Is it worth it?” I asked myself. Eventually, I would stick it out for the rest of the season and when it ended, I would work as hard as I possibly could to get those grades back up. As for now, I’m giving it my best effort. It becomes difficult in my classes, though. I hate being the kid who can”t answer the teacher”s questions when they call on me in class. I don”t like seeing the look of disappointment before they say, “No. Can someone else help Madalyne?” 

So in the end there is no way around these particular facts. Golf can”t be played on the weekends because there is no possible way that over 75 people”s schedules would match up with that. Therefore, we must be taken out of school, there is no other option, which I understand. That it unless I pick another sport….too bad I”m not good at any others…