After finishing up the high school golf season for the last time, I wondered what it felt to be an athlete for a different sport, and furthermore, what it felt to be a really committed one. Personally, I play golf but not super seriously (as in, compete in 10+ tournaments in the summer), but I was curious to find out about students who really go HARD for their spot, who are actually on the Student Athlete Grind TM 💪😤💦.

For this episode, I interviewed two student athletes from our high school.
- Swimmer Katherine Blake dives into the world of waking up at 4am for 2 hour swim practices (before school!), the importance of balance, and her goal to educate people that swimming is more than just about winning.
- Volleyball player and high school team captain Laila Rogers discusses the role mental strength plays in her game, dealing with injuries while playing, and having her hard work pay off in the end (literally, as in a full-ride scholarship).

I had a lot of fun talking to Katherine and Laila about their commitment to their sport, but moreover, I found it fascinating to hear about their ambitions beyond athletics, their dreams for things outside of their game. It's a nice surprise when I learn more about people and they go outside of my expected image of them (not to stereotype, but you know what I mean).

Just a note, a little off-topic, but I encourage everyone to try as many sports as they can. With the right people to coach and play with, they can be a fantastic experience.

Anyways, I hope that you have learned something from this episode, and that you can spare some time in the future to go outside and play some sports :)
-Kaylen


Music:
wish of being with you by Barradeen | https://soundcloud.com/barradeen
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US