As spring sports kicked off once again, athletes grabbed their gear and prepared for another season of hard work. But this season, one junior athlete will be lugging around three different sports bags: pom, soccer and track.
Junior Katie Lomshek has decided to partake in not just one, but three sports — all at the same time. Lomshek is a member of the track team, the JV soccer team, and recently finished tryouts for the 2013-2014 pom squad.
“I thought it would be good to try and just do different stuff in high school and just try out different things,” Lomshek said.
This year, Lomshek tried out for the girls’ soccer team, the first time she has played soccer since the age of 7.
“Since I thought it was a no-cut sport, I thought it’d be fun and different to do,” Lomshek said.
Being involved in multiple sports calls for long days for Lomshek. Attending multiple practices, working through a busy schedule of track meets and soccer games and coming home to the day’s homework becomes an intricate balancing act.
“I usually go to track right after school since I have weights, so I go to weights and then I have track outside and then I go to soccer,” Lomshek said. “Then I do homework after my sports.”
With pom tryouts beginning April 1, during the middle of Lomshek’s track and soccer seasons, even more was put on her plate.
“I’ve gone to the [pom] clinics when I could,” Lomshek said. “And [tryouts] start at 5:30, so I tried to get out of soccer a little early so I could go to tryouts.”
Though most students would find balancing three sports and homework a death wish, Lomshek’s coaches agree that being involved is beneficial to her all around athleticism.
“Kids can become more rounded athletes when participating in multiple sports,” pom squad coach Loralea Wood, said. “They gain more organizational skills and the ability to communicate with coaches about their schedules. Coaches are losing the opportunities to work with kids that just want to focus on one sport and making them better all-around athletes.”
To Lomshek, her involvement also assists her in getting to know more people.
“Like pom, we have all our girls, and track we have the girls and the boys and then for soccer there’s C-team, JV and varsity,” Lomshek said. “It’s just different to be with all different people surrounding me with those sports.”
Despite the many benefits that come with being involved in multiple sports, there is bound to be conflicts in Lomshek’s schedule with soccer games and track meets. For her coaches, this is just a bridge they will cross when the time comes.
“Depending on the game or meet we would talk and determine where she is needed,” girls’ soccer coach Justin Young said. “This is something that now the season is starting, the JV coach and I will need to talk with Katie to determine if there are conflicts and what we will do so that we can plan ahead.”
If Lomshek is able to successfully conquer all three different sports and keep good academics, her hopes are to continue her involvement in all three sports during next year’s spring sports season.
“It’s just really hard to do all of it,” Lomshek said. “But I hope [I can continue], I really do.”