Sweat drips down your forehead. Your muscles scream in agony as you sprint down the field. Concentration is the only thing on your mind. Make this goal, make this home run, make this hole in one. Although this may not be something everyone experiences, for the next three months, this is PLHS athletes’ entire lives.  

After the long and dreadful winter, spring sports are finally in full swing. This means for the remainder of the year, athletes must balance the stress of schoolwork along with the pressure to bring home Monarch nation victories. 

Coaches have already started to train the athletes to be the best player they can be with rigorous training schedules and intense practices. 

“I had to wake up early in the morning for throwing and fielding and after school for hitting. After that we had a choice to go in the morning for pitching and still had to go after school,” freshman Jackson Vetter said. 

This pattern of early mornings and late nights both physically and mentally drains some of the committed athletes. 

“I had to go from soccer to band after school almost every day,” freshman Hunter Butterfield said. “It was really difficult because I would be at the school until 8:00 and would have to hurry home and do all my homework. It’s just hard to process everything that was going on at once.” 

While some players are PLHS sports-team veterans, there were quite a few athletes going out for a school sport for the first time this season.  

“This was the first time I was participating in a high school sport,” freshman Keira Sterling said. “It was intimidating at first, but now I am enjoying the soccer practices with the team.” 

Most of the spring sports are team activities, but for freshman Jack Davis, this time of the year is solely for the purpose of bettering his individual golf skills. 

“I feel very prepared for this upcoming season. I have practiced all of winter so I’m ready to go out and do my best,” Davis said. 

Many of the athletes have been training almost their entire lives for the rush of high school sports. 

“I have been playing since kindergarten. I have always enjoyed soccer and I’m excited to keep playing throughout the next four years of school,” Butterfield said. 

Some of the other students have only been playing their sport for a little time but have made huge strides towards their success. 

“I have been playing for a little over three years now. I feel like I have made huge improvements and I am proud of how far I have come,” Davis said. 

Although all tryouts are different, many of the athletes found that all of them had one thing in common: fitness. 

“The tryout process was four days of running and drills. We had to do sprints the first and second day when we were in the gym, but once we were able to play on turf, we ran a lot less and scrimmaged a lot more,” Sterling said. 

The question remains for some athletes if they prefer club or school sports more. 

“I feel like playing for the school is just something you can’t compare to playing for a select team. The game is a lot different,” Vetter said. 

With hard work and perseverance, this season may just be the beginning of a successful high school experience. Although the majority of PLHS athletes won’t get into a professional league, the only thing important to these students is that they are doing what they love.