Balancing Life with Sports
A student-athlete’s life can be very hectic, and many students struggle to find a way to balance their academic and athletic lives. Juggling practice, classes and having a social life, they’re often left with little time for themselves. Moreover, even though playing sports should be an enjoyable experience for students, managing time can be difficult. Therefore, having strong time management skills can help them navigate their athletic, academic and social lives. Someone who has achieved this balance is QPA student-athlete Jermani Desir.
Jermani Desir is a student at Queens Preparatory Academy who has participated in many different sports activities. He has mentioned being involved with football, track and field, and wrestling, all of which helped him improve his social skills during his time at QPA. Jermani started playing sports in middle school and found it so rewarding that he never looked back. “Playing sports gave me a chance to make friends,” he said. He’s also been able to maintain a decent grade point average in all of his classes here at QPA.
Wresting His Way to the Top
Jermani’s current focus is his participation in the wrestling team that’s made up of students from the different schools here at the Springfield Gardens Campus. The team was started less than two years ago by coach Jay and coach Hernandez. It has 12 members, and they often travel to different areas, such as the Bronx and Upstate New York to compete in wrestling matches.
However, even though Jermani has been involved in athletics since middle school, he never expected to end up wrestling. “My brother Jaymarcus first introduced me to wrestling when football season was coming to a close,” he said. “I wasn’t interested at first, but over time I enjoyed the challenge.”
His competitiveness drove him to succeed and eventually win some of his matches, and because he loves the challenge, the world of wrestling has become a powerful tool for self-expression. Moreover, Jermani’s passion for wrestling goes hand and hand with his knowledge of the sport. He generously shared some pointers on how to succeed in this area, since it’s about winning.
Advice for Multitasking Students
Jermani believes many people don’t realize how much will-power it takes to partake in sports, especially wrestling. He thinks people just assume students have all the free time in the world, but in reality, they have to find time for homework, school chores, projects, and their everyday lives. He said that although it’s hard to balance sports and academics, it’s more manageable if you take breaks and chop your routine into smaller parts. “Many people don’t realize that you shouldn’t overwork yourself and rush it,” Jermani said. “You could cause yourself to mess up and you’ll have to restart.”
He thinks that having a more cohesive schedule where you’re not stressed or pressured to do one thing more than the other could help you feel less overwhelmed. “Don’t force yourself to do too many things at once,” he said. He stays on top of his assignments, but overall tries to do everything in moderation.
