good afternoon i'm around the brain and welcome back to another episode of the scoop i'm here with taylor passed today and we're discussing the difficulties of managing high school sports and academics so taylor what sports did you play in high school in high school i was really involved in varsity cheerleading i did that since i was six years old and then i did varsity track junior and senior year anniversary cross country senior year and why did you get involved in these well i got involved and sure because when i was little all of my friends were cheering so i wanted to be doing things with them in my brother was also a football player but it would be cute if i cheered for him and then for track i don't know why i joined all my friends like join tracks i was like ok and i had the background of sprinting because i used to play softball so then one day a track practice across country  asked me to do cross country so i decided that to cheer for so much longer i think i stopped for tour with here for a long time because i started to grow up with these people like the girls i was training with i was so close with them and i really like the aspect of how it was competitive and how i could cheer for a football game so it was a nice mixture and i like how it was year round so i could be doing it the entire year do you wish you would have drawing track and cross country earlier on and i think i wish i would have joined them a lot earlier because the team dynamic of them is very different from truly didn't i like that it's individual and a team sport and i wasn't used to something like that and i think what held me back from doing them earlier was the fact that i didn't think i was going to be like the best one on the team and i'm a perfectionist so i like being the best one so that held me back from joining it but once i joined it i realized that i really like the sport so i wish i would enter into the lot earlier did these three sports or interfere with each other it was definitely tough at first mainly cross country and cheer they the practices were constantly the same day the same times but my coaches were really understanding of letting me split time which was nice so every day of the week i would be doing something off my coaches totally understood they were actually happy that i was splitting my time and if i missed something another teammate would always catch me up so it always worked out did you ever have any serious injuries while playing personally now i haven't had any serious injuries i've broken a few i've sprained a couple ankle as and breasts but a lot of my team members huge issue so i could so i competed stuff like that so on the other end what academic courses did you take in high school i was pretty much involved in every single a p class that my school offered mainly the science classes i really liked  majoring in biology so i was really involved in those but i also felt it was important to challenge myself and other subjects so i did pretty much take on all the other subjects in a field where you know that you're out of high school i'm a freshman at the shire honors college at penn state and like i said i majoring in biology did you continue on in the sports in college no i didn't continue any of them mainly because well i'm definitely not ideal an athlete and also it's a huge time commitment and my really heavy so i want to focus on academics and i do have a lot of credit to those who do play sports at college because it is a huge huge time commitment did you get to receive any academic or sports scholarships i did receive a lot of academic and sports scholarships not necessary for scholarships to play in college but more or less a lot of just for playing and being passionate about the sport and then grades in g p a went into it a lot so i was in the proceeding a good bit what do you think these colleges look for one giving you the scholarship i think they really look for someone who's passionate it's not all about the talent i was actually talking to the penn state aswell catch one day i don't play basketball or anything she was just in one of my classes but she was saying how there could be a girl who has this amazing talent the best basketball player she's ever seen but she doesn't recruiter because she has like a nasty attitude or bad character and i think what schools really look for is someone who can represent them in a good light so i think character along with talent grades g p a things like that they take all that into consideration can you tell me what it was like being a student athlete in high school well i've always been a student athlete ever since i was six pretty much so i don't really know anything  but it was a very very strict time schedule it was a strict eight hour school day i'd go to school go to practice sometimes two practices in a day and then i'd come home do my homework and then basically repeat it over and over did you ever feel like you had to drop one activity for another that's me at first i thought i should drop some activities maybe an a p class things like that because i didn't know if i should be focusing on one thing over another so it was tough at first but i realized that after i gave it time it became a lot easier and i became well adjusted to the schedule of the course lead the activities and so i'm really glad i didn't end up dropping anything what other clubs re involved in in high school or those and track cross country and cheer i was pretty much involved in every activity in school i like taking leadership positions and all of the activities my school offered so if you would be like science lindsay add national honor society teen outreach interact in a lot of them involved a lot of volunteer  so that's the main reason i joined a lot of them because i was very passionate while giving back and volunteering throughout the community how did your family support you in your busy schedule my family was very supportive and supportive of me ever since i was little like i said i've been doing cheer so the competitive aspect and the football games they would be at the front of the football games they'd be at my all my competitions so it's really nice having them in the audience supporting me and things like that and also with the clubs and activities like i said a lot of them are volunteering and giving back to the community fundraisers so before i could drive they'd always take me to where i needed to be and also they'd always help me prepare for fundraisers and things like that did you in your team join a thing to bond yeah we did a lot of bonding throughout all the seasons actually we'd go to movies go to eat just basically anything to be together and i think that helped a lot because with all the new people coming in before we could actually start running o start with our competition on routine it was important that we got to know each other so that helped a lot i know when i was a freshman we didn't do a lot of team bonding and i could see that our team wasn't as strong as it was in future years so i realize that team bonding did help us succeed a lot better how did you as one teammate affect the whole team as a one team member while for cheer i was the captain so that was a really nice opportunity for me because i was able to help expression with the younger girls who are transitioning from middle school to high school so i was able to help them learn the new material basically to act like a big sister to them so that was really nice and then for the other sports i was involved and i wasn't a captain or anything but i was basically like their cheerleader for their sports i was really nice on supporting my other teammates on this board did you ever have any difficulty with any team mates on your teams not really of course we became frustrated at times if we were doing a routine and something went wrong people would blame each other and things of that nature but it never became too much  we would just take a breather take a break talk things out what was going wrong so then after that i mean other than that there wasn't any difficulties do you ever feel any pressure from your coaches or your family i mean of course they wanted me to be like the best i could be so they would strive for me to be better they would push me to be better om but i don't really feel a lot of pressure from them the pressure that i thought was probably from myself because like i said i'm a perfectionist so i was always trying to be better and so i was always putting like the heavy load of pressure on myself what a vice would you give to someone who's coming to start a sport with a heavy workload like you had i would say definitely give it time because like i said at first i didn't think i was going to be able to do it but once you give it time it does become a lot easier and you're able to manage your time with the activities and sports a lot easier was there any certainly xstrata strategies that you had that helped you with all this heavy heavy workload on i want to say there was any certain set study strategies i would study a lot but a cool app that i was really into with scalia and it's basically like a scholarship app you put in information and things like that and then it directly to scholarships that are that you could apply for so that helped me get a lot of my scholarships was there any like one person in high school that helped you through a lot or influenced you amo a lot of my teachers were all were very influential but one teacher who taught at our school but i didn't have her as a teacher  was my squash sponsor so i worked a lot with her but she was very helpful with directing the scholarships writing the letters of recommendation in she was truly passionate about her job and she always told me to do things you're passionate about whether the clubs activities careers and i think that really helped me because a lot of people don't go into careers that they're passionate about and she always made me think about that when om making decisions what were some of the most helpful activities that you participated in in high school but are helping you in college you know i think as a whole they all kind of help me because they all help me learn time management and going into college that was a that's a huge transition with the time management so managing all those clubs and activities for the classes it all helped me do it easier in colleges and it also helped me realize my passions of what clubs and activities i want to take on in college didn't mean of the sports and activities cut into your social life and they definitely did i didn't have any other time than sports and classes but in a way it was my social life because all my friends were doing and i was with them so i guess you could say it's kind of my social life but it was my social life what was your biggest academic and sport achievement that you received i say academic was probably being named valedictorian because it just like showed all my hard work paid off athletic wise probably being an all american cheerleader that was that actually helped ease my confidence a lot because i didn't even want to apply for it but audition for it so that helps a lot and then otherwise my biggest accomplishment for tracking cost country is probably just joining the team because i never thought i would join the team so after joining it was a huge accomplishment just finishing the season what were the academic requirements to maintain a student athlete if i remember correctly it was about like a two point three g p a and he always had to be in scole on the day of the event the day of the practice game competition whatever it may be so that actually helped that one become a lot more involved in school would you have done anything differently if you could go back into high school if i could go back i would probably just put less pressure on myself and enjoy the classes activities a lot more because in college it's because all academics here are very focused and i think that i just put too much pressure on myself in high school and that and enjoy it all as much pleasure those what do you think the hardest thing was for you coming from sports and activities transferring from high school to college probably like i said the time management because it's not a strict eight hour school day anymore so it was hard and i am a high class from ten to six and i had little breaks in between but i didn't know how to i don't know what to do with them because i was so used to my schedule of classes and sports and then homework but best friend because i think that's a really unique opportunity for two best friends to have so we're able to help right other speeches and rehearsing other so that was a lot of fun and then my favorite athletic memory was probably just meeting our rival bellhorn and that was a really great time for us it was really fun did you have any major goals in high school academic wise it was academic and athletic wise i guess i was just always to better myself i other than that i don't have any specific goals i just always wanted to get better at academics and sports because i knew that i could get better and my coaches help me reach back oh definitely ok well we'll be right back after this break to talk together we can change and find out how it's safe kids dot org welcome back so taylor why do you think it was important to have both economic and sports in your high school career i think i always found it important to join a sports team while doing academics mainly because the sports really acted as a great support system whether it be in school or just out of school because they truly did become a family and while doing academics i think well i do really believe that academics are really really important and i think that balancing their time with sports and other activities helps a lot because you do become a lot more well rounded as a person and college is really to look for that so do you plan on never being involved in the sports again  i don't personally plan on playing them again or anything like that and i definitely don't think i'll ever have time for that again but i do plan on i have volunteered as an assistant coach a student coach and that was a great opportunity because i was able to do that where i started so it was nice going back to where i started and almost acting as like a role model for a younger girl is and i thought that was pretty unique because i was in that position once so but other than that i was a volunteer i don't think i see myself ever doing coaching as a career or going back to the sport itself so why did you what were your like motives for getting involved in these sports at first i think my motives were just just to become more well rounded up because i was always focused on academics so so much that i knew that i had the capability of doing something other than just just academics because everyone knew me as like a someone smart who got good grades by also wanted to be someone who could play a sport and get involved in ways like that so i would just say my motives were to become more well rounded and prove to myself that i could do something other than academics do you think that everyone should participate in academics like you did or is it just something for someone like you to do i think that everyone should some of it doesn't necessarily have to be academics and athletics but i would say that everyone should find something that they're passionate about whether it be one club one activity one sport and balance out with academics because i think it truly does help you even with just your academics i think that if you're involved in one spore it does help with that your academics because it helps you like i said with time management and just your work ethic basically is is that how it helps you in the long run preparing for college yeah it definitely is like i said the time management truly did help me all the balance in the sports although i didn't realize that when i went to college that i there was no way that i could take on every single activity and club and things like that because in college when there are so many people i realize that i should only be taking on the ones i am passionate about so i wish i would have done that in high school if i would just focus on one stem passion about and get super involved in those like i'm doing in college rather than just joining all of them looking back on high school what which activities and sports did you most enjoy  one i would say that i most we enjoyed probably share just because i've been doing it so long and it was just it was just really great because the people i started with they was the same throughout the sixteen years i did it and we just became so close and like i said it was my social life and probably academics was my favorite club was honestly probably science one pm and i thought that was a really cool unique opportunity i'm involved with something like that in college so i did spend a lot of time with that because i was passionate about the science field so i definitely took that into my college life also from all the stuff you've been involved in in high school what did you learn about teamwork to work when i first started i like an academic was i was a very very independent person i didn't want to work with anyone else i i didn't like being on it team in school i liked being on just working by myself but being on all these teams on my specially the sports teams outside of academics really did teach me a lot about working on a team because i was not a team player before that i really really like to learn about it though for cheer i realize that every single person matters when one person is out of the routine just doesn't work people need to stop and people need to really just taken out their roles and i learned that i learned that there isn't just although i was the captain it's not like i was the only person there and i'm not a leader isn't a dom a dominant figure a dominant force it's more of i'm someone who just takes the voices and opinions of others and help the team grow as a whole and i think there were a lot of that on our team and i'm really glad because i took what i learned from my chair cross country and track of working on a team and then took that into my academics so i was better i was more able to work in a team working groups and that helped me succeed in college because there is a lot of group work in college what do you think you miss most about being involved in so much ports and activities i think i just miss the day that i have our city that i was given in high school there was just always so much going on and so much i was involved with that it was nice having that friday but in college it's just my classes and i have my few active my few activities and clubs i'm involved in while i do like being that i'm just in the ones that i'm passionate about i really do enjoy that but i still miss that i vers because there was always so much going on in high school all right well that's all i have for you i'd like to thank the crew in taylor for being here today and answering all the questions i had thanks for watching