Self-discipline. Competitive fire. Self-belief. For a high school athlete, these are the keys to making it at the next level, according to Anson Dorrance.

Dorrance, the head coach of the women’s soccer team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has the most wins as a soccer coach NCAA history.

Many student athletes here have already started working toward these goals and continue to work hard to compete at a higher level. These student athletes face a variety of obstacles both on and off the field.

“There’s a lot of pressure when I practice because if you’re not on top of your game and you don’t put in the maximum effort, it affects your playing time,” freshman Nina Perry said. “Also, now when I’m playing in games I’m beginning to get looked at by colleges, so to be playing at your best in every game is important.”

Perry currently plays on the U-15 ECNL Girls Virginia Rush soccer team in Virginia Beach. She travels to Virginia to practice three to five days a week and has traveled as far as Arizona for tournaments. Balancing school and soccer can be challenging, but Perry manages her time and keeps up with both.

“If you travel during the school year, a majority of your teachers know you travel so they are pressuring you to do well in their class while traveling and doing schoolwork,” Perry said. “According to teachers, you’re called a ‘student athlete’ for a reason – student before athlete.”

Some students believe that playing on a team outside of school helps increase the likelihood they will be recruited.

“I absolutely think that the program I’m with improves my chances because it’s a well-known league around the country and this is the league where most Division I women soccer players come from,” Perry said. “I’m glad I’m a part of it because I get to learn new things playing against these girls and learn what I need to potentially play Division I.”

Some student athletes are not only focused on the athletics at the colleges of their choice but the academics, as well. Senior lacrosse player Harrison Gardner would take an offer from a school that had the degree of his choice before an athletic offer from a school without his degree. Gardner says balancing schoolwork and lacrosse can be challenging.

“During the week I have no leisure time,” Gardner said.  “It’s sleep, eat, practice, homework, repeat.”

Gardner not only has pressure to complete schoolwork, but also deals with pressure on the field. “I’m a goalie of a lacrosse team; it’s the equivalent to being a quarterback on a football team,” Gardner said. “You are expected to play to a higher level, lead the team and put the team on your back when push comes to shove.”

Gardner as well as senior Alexis Ashton both say living on the Outer Banks means you have to play on a travel team outside of school if you want to have any chance of playing sports at the collegiate level.

Like Gardner and Perry, Ashton travels to Virginia to play competitively. Due to a shoulder injury during her junior year, Ashton is no longer trying to play softball in college but continues to feel the pressure of being on a higher-level team.

“Playing on a higher-level team makes me put more pressure on myself,” Ashton said. “Being the captain of my team, I want to be a good role model for the younger girls and I want to succeed. Also not knowing which college coach is watching you adds so much pressure and really helps you learn to handle your anger when something goes wrong.”

Pressure for student athletes can also come from striving to play at the same competitive level as their teammates. Being one of the youngest on her travel team, Perry has to put in extra time and effort to compete with her teammates.

“I spend extra time before and after practice with my coach sometimes,” Perry said. “I also have private sessions on the weekends.”

Sophomore swimmer Sarah Mandis not only hopes to swim in college but has ambitions of making it to the Olympics. She is a member of the Old Dominion Aquatic Club (ODAC) in Great Bridge, Va., as well as the school swim team. At ODAC, Mandis trains with Olympic-style coaches every day after school as well as on Saturday mornings.

“I travel to Virginia every day after school, so I always do homework in the car on the way there and the way back,” Mandis said. “I schedule time with my teachers before school and during Empower Time if I feel like I need help or if I am getting behind.”

To keep from falling behind, these athletes must learn strategies for time management while maintaining the level of commitment that is required of their travel teams.

“The extra commitment to perform at the higher level for swimming is committing to be on a team in a different state and being willing to drive to almost every practice and meet,” Mandis said. “When I can’t make it to Virginia for practices I always do one by myself here on the beach so I don’t get behind my teammates. I also have to commit to going to the gym for weightlifting three mornings a week before school.”

Traveling out of town to practices and for competitions can be a significant disadvantage for student athletes who want to participate on these highly competitive teams. Junior Shelby Klotz has been cheering on All-Star teams for the past eight years and on school teams for the past five.

“Having to travel to cheer definitely takes a lot of extra dedication,” Klotz said. “You have to accept the fact that you’ll have to miss school functions and have to be willing to give up your weekends for competitions and practices. But after cheering for eight years, it seems pretty normal.”

Klotz realizes her high school cheer coaches also expect more from their All-Star athletes and that only adds to the pressure of being on both a travel team and a school team.

“School cheerleading coaches have higher expectations of their All-Star cheerleaders because they know how much more experienced we are and how much more advanced All-Star cheerleading is,” Klotz said.

All of these student athletes know training and competing year-round will greatly increase their chances of making it to the top.

“I have big potential and goals of going far in my swimming,” Mandis said. “I needed to be on a high-level team with Olympic-style coaches in order to fulfill them.”

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