Waking up at 5 a.m. getting ready to clock into work at 6 a.m. for a four hour shift at Trader Joes, SRHS senior, Brayan Moran, varsity football player who also plays club soccer, would have to work in the mornings during football season because he couldn’t miss practice. But, he also needed to work and make money for his needs and just so he could do that he had to have such compacted days with really no time for anything other than work, football, and school..
Working in high school becomes many students’ biggest priority but, when it comes to student athletes finding and maintaining a job, it can be one of the most difficult tasks they encounter.
Many SRHS student athletes are currently struggling to balance school, sports, and job hunting. Many high school students need a source of income to be able to provide for themselves or to help their families out with necessities. Many of those students are athletes, who don’t have enough time in their day to have a job, and are ultimately forced to have to choose one or the other.
Rayley Cauich, a senior at SRHS and on the varsity boys soccer team, is currently working at Home Goods and says, “I applied to 30 jobs and only 5 got back to me.”
Moran says, “I applied to about 10 jobs before I got the opportunity to work at Trader Joe’s.”
Everywhere we look, we can see places where people are hired to work, serve, and help us, but getting a job isn’t easy for a high school student. There are so many people more qualified for the jobs high school students want. Students can apply to as many jobs as possible and sometimes never hear back from any or just a small percentage.
Students are usually looking to start their first job in high school. Meaning they’re not very experienced. When employers see that, they usually turn them down immediately. But, on the possible chance that they do get an interview, once the employer has the understanding that the student is a student athlete, they get turned down.
According to ¨Securing the Win: The Unique Unemployment Challenges Facing Student-Athletes¨ by Chloe Miller, there are some biases that are what concern employers. Those being, the lack of time and experience students tend to have makes student athletes appear less competitive compared to others who have had time to do internships, volunteering, or have other jobs that give them the upper hand at employment.
Some students get lucky and find networking opportunities, like Luke Shapiro, SRHS senior and varsity basketball player. Shapiro says, ¨My friend’s dad helped me get a job in demolition with them.¨
Others get lucky when they find jobs and have coaches who can be really flexible and understanding of their schedules when you have excellent communication with them. ¨There haven’t really been any issues at work or practice, my manager is really understanding about the other responsibilities and priorities I have and gives me the time I need off,¨ says Rayley Cauich.
Though, most of the time, students have to deal with finding a job on their own, and juggle managers or coaches who don’t understand their time balancing
¨My coaches could have been more understanding that I have adult responsibilities, and see how it’s an exposure to real life. If I missed a day of practice, I’d lose playing time. I felt my coach cared more about the game than me, and didn’t see how it could affect me. Yes, managing time is a good skill to have, but it gets to a point,¨ says Brayan Moran.
Sometimes, even with great communication skills, some people can make scheduling your time and days extremely difficult.
And even when these athletes do have some time on their hands to be productive in a study hall, a day off, or a free period, a lot of the time, they have a hard time doing anything.
All these athletes barely seem to be maintaining work and sports. Can they maintain their school work too?
¨I try to use time at study hall effectively, try to motivate myself to do work, even though i was exhausted, and hold myself accountable,¨ says Brayan Moran.
¨My grades went down because I had no time to do homework or time to study, so I couldn’t do well on tests to help me keep my grades decent, even when I did have to, I was too tired to do anything,¨ says Luke Shapiro.
Jaeden Higgins-Jones, SRHS varsity soccer player, says, ¨Even though I only work four hours a day, two days a week, and have a pretty decent schedule, and I do try to make full use of the time I have, at the end of the day I’m still really exhausted. Sometimes I’m just too tired to do work.¨
They may be keeping up but that’s a whole different conversation.
¨There are so many circumstances with different individuals. Some people have to work to help their family and some people choose to work to have their own money to do whatever they want,¨ says CJ Healy, SRHS PE teacher and Volleyball coach. ¨If I were the coach and the student has to work to support their family then, I would do my best to support that student athlete so that they could do work, sports, and school.¨
So, balancing the demands of sports, school, and a job isn’t easy for a high school student athlete. The dedication they have to their sport comes with sacrifices, and making the search for a job is a huge challenge. Being understanding of these struggles is really the only way for an employer to support them as they work hard to accomplish things off and on the field, or court.
