Varsity sports have always been a staple in American Culture. Friday night lights. Making it to state. Winning. These people are athletes when they step on the field, what’s it like off? 

Being a student athlete is a task to anyone, especially those on varsity. It can help to have experience with the environment and amount of work that comes with it. Junior Mackenzie Sansone plays varsity volleyball, along with club. She describes how being an athlete makes you become a better student. 

“Being a student athlete. It pushes you to be better as a student,” Sansone said. “If you really have passion for the sport, it makes you want to do better in school and come to school and to have a good attendance .” 

There are downsides that come with being on varsity, in any sport with outside pressure. Nick Ortinau, senior football player, recounts numerous times that outside voices have come into play.

“There’s always gonna be people that think they know everything about certain subjects, I’ve definitely had a few times where parents, friends, people I don’t even really know have told me about my mistakes.” Ortinau said. “It’s hard being a high school player or high school kid and getting all that pressure from your peers and all looked at like that. So we just try to shake them off and just know what we’ve done.” 

For the first time in FHC history, a student is playing 3 fall sports. Senior Conner Casler plays soccer, cross country, and football. During the winter he plans to play basketball as well. He describes how behavior dictates respect in a students sport. 

“A lot of it’s like a reputation in school. You see a lot of people you know and you also have to act right because you are representing the whole school.” Casler said. “If you do dumb things, it makes your program look bad.” 

The student section is a big part of sports. Whether they are at your sport or not, or even how many cheers they do. Many people have different perspectives, but senior Nick Ortinau expresses his opinion on the student section.

“I love that student section. There’s nothing better than Friday night football games, in my opinion,” Ortinau said. “Going from my sophomore year with COVID and not having people allowed at the games. I think it just makes everyone on the field play a little bit better. You know, just  try to be seen a little bit more.”