The Surge

A day in the life of a typical student-athlete includes waking up, going to school, doing their homework and going to practice. While some may say that this is what it takes to succeed, a busy schedule at such a young age can cause an unneeded amount of stress and eventually lead to burnout, taking away the motivation and fun of the sport. With mental and physical health at the forefront of most athletes’ priorities, a switch to homeschool has become increasingly common, resulting in a range of experiences, good and bad. 

Famous athletes like surfer Bethany Hamilton and tennis star Serena Williams are among the many who seized the opportunity to learn at home, drawn by the flexibility and extra time for practice and competition. Going to school in person results in sacrifice, either for the sport you love or the educational time you need. Competitions and practices can overlap with classes, causing many to fall behind even if their best attempts are made to keep up. To accommodate this, homeschoolers often create their own schedule, having four-day school weeks with fewer hours instead of the typical seven hours a day, five days a week. This unique chance to dictate their own routine provides more time for their favorite activity while simultaneously teaching them the importance of time management. These students are also still able to join the teams of schools in their area, like the Bay, keeping them grounded in a new environment separate from their home and club teams. This builds confidence in their sport and also allows for connection with kids their age that they would otherwise be lacking from their homeschooled experience. This is especially true for sports that are more individual-based, like golf or swimming. Being put on a team rather than strictly competing and practicing by yourself can make the sport more exciting and also build necessary relationships.

The switch from public to homeschool can erase invisible stressors that may have been weighing on young athletes. Though stress is still present in their sports lives, the pressure that is tied to crowded hallways, piles of homework and long hours is gone. By lifting these weights off their back, sports performance has room to improve. Homeschooling allows student athletes to separate the student part of their lives from the athletic part, creating a favorable advantage that can result in many others to follow the trend and take part in the switch.

However, the many advantages to homeschooling make it easy to disregard the problems it can bring. Not only has switching to homeschool led to the degradation of many students’ social skills, but it also leads to a host of physical and mental problems. A rising concern in homeschooled athletes is the effect that the increased specialization and focus on their chosen sport can have on their health. Specialization at such a young age is mostly recommended against by most athletic trainers, as the overtraining can be detrimental to the physical and mental state of an athlete. Pressure fueled by hypercompetitive coaches and parents intent on securing an elusive college scholarship may undermine the merits of homeschooling, even when intensive schedules, diets and instruction are not always proven to increase chances of a Division 1 (D1) scholarship. In fact, in some scenarios, unregulated or mismanaged homeschooling can even harm the academic opportunities of the athletes involved. This unhealthy atmosphere is encouraged by the drive for limited college scholarships and the oversaturated playing field. 

Athletic scholarships are uncommon, with most D1 schools only being allowed a certain amount of full-tuition offers per sport, while D2 is even more limited and D3 schools rely on non-athletic financial aid. Beyond that, many schools lack funding for smaller sports programs or women’s teams, meaning fewer spots with fewer benefits are available. Pressure for schools to recruit according to academic standards has increased, meaning more elite schools cannot recruit athletes that only perform well in sports and not in school. This leads to a disadvantage for homeschooled athletes who do not have a standard school system and grades to compete with regular athletes, hurting their chances to claim the coveted D1 scholarship that many fight over.

Bottom Line: There are many different viewpoints on the effects that homeschooling has on growing student athletes, but what is most important is that these teenagers are at least given the opportunity to choose. Rather than being stuck in a schooling system that may not fit them and the lifestyle they plan to pursue, the choice is theirs, and, at the end of the day, it should not be anyone else’s.