JSEC 9th Grade Student-Athletes Balancing Act

The Student Athlete
My name is Evel Bernardi and I’m a student here at the Juanita Sanchez High School.
I’m in the 9th grade and I play both football and baseball. In addition to playing sports I also love to learn in each of my classes. I’ve been in the weight room with my football team working out alot to ensure I am in the best shape so I can perform at my best on the football field. In class I exercise my mind in most of my classes that ensures I have a good balance of knowledge along with athleticism.

The reason why I think it’s important to be a “Student-Athlete” is because I always loved to play sports and always loved to learn. I think being a student athlete is good because it keeps my mind focused on getting good grades and with those good grades it keeps me eligible to play any sport at JSEC. Balancing both keeps my mind opened as I learn things both on and off the field.

Being a student athlete is also good because it keeps me positive everyday and gives me something to look forward too. I see both as challenging me and both will improve me as a person. Im proud to call myself a student athlete as it pushes me
harder to get good grades. Also it pushes me to do much better in life.
It teaches me a lesson to engage with others. It even helps me to be a leader in the school in my 9th Grade Class. For example; I joined the Youth Empowerment Club and actually served as a JSEC Ambassador and assisted famous visitors that came to our school speaker to the students.

The main reason I’m a student athlete because it even teaches me to engage with other student athletes on the football team. As a team, we all focus on winning the football games. This past year our team made it to the Super Bowl for the 2nd year in a row. Although we did’nt win, I learned about plays, angles, strategies, etc….often similar to whats taught in the classroom which made thing easier to understand. Lastly I love being a student athlete, especially with being a Freshmen, as it helps me to make new friends and even though I don’t know the whole entire team that well yet, its been fun getting to know the guys on the team.

I would strongly encourage everyone to try to participate in a sport at JSEC, and some say its either just academics or just sports. This is not true, you can do both and be both. I am proof of that. Am I the absolute best at academics or sports? Absolutely not, but I am getting better at both and am proud to wear that title of JSEC Student Athlete.

-Evel Bernardi (9th Grade JSEC Student)