Dear Faris Buehler,

I decided not to play a spring sport this year, but now all my friends are doing one, and I kind of wish I had done one too. I know you guys both play tennis, so what are the pros and cons to playing a spring sport?

Sincerely,

Lonely Friend

Dear Lonely Friend,

I’m not sure of your reasons for why you decided not to do a spring sport, but you should totally try one out next spring if you are debating it. As you know, I play tennis, and I was debating whether or not I wanted to do it my freshmen year, and it was definitely the right decision. There are a ton of spring sports to try out for. There is tennis, softball, baseball, track and field, and golf, so you could try one, and if that’s not for you there are a ton of others to try too.

There are quite a few pros and cons to spring sports. One con to spring sports is that they are time consuming, which can be good and bad. If you have a lot of other commitments to things, sometimes your sports can get in the way and schedules can clash. Another thing that is not so great about spring sports is that they usually fall under the same time as AP testing and the ACT. So, if you’re planning on taking an AP test and the ACT, it can be overwhelming to have to study for those tests and go to practice or games every day. The last major drawback to playing a spring sport is missing school. Some people love missing school, others don’t, but when there is an away match or game, you tend to get home pretty late, because most of the schools in the GVC are over an hour away, which can be annoying.

While there are a few cons to spring sports, there are a ton of great things about them as well. One pro is that you get the opportunity to meet lots of new people and friends. I know through tennis I’ve made so many new friendships with people I probably wouldn’t have met without it. You also have something to do every day after school, and it’s always nice to be busy. With a spring sport you also learn time management, because usually you have to miss a bit of school for your sport, so learning how to manage your time between school and the sport is a really good skill.

I hope that these pros and cons can help you in making a decision on whether or not to do a spring sport next spring. I definitely recommend tennis if you’re debating which sport to try!

Sincerely,

Faris Buehler