Morning and school are crippling words for many students around the world, but imagine the grave pain of waking up for intense practices prior to school. Athletes at North Atlanta are already facing these complications, with the football season gearing to make its return August 20th. Regular students understand the complications of waking up in the morning for school, but they cannot comprehend the struggles of Dubs athletes who must homework deep into the night and wake up at around five in the morning for fierce activity. Then, immediately after their malicious morning practices, these Dubs have to subject their exhausted brains to school books promptly at 8:45. Wow!! What a busy and difficult day for the dedicated sports Dubs!

With the football season kicking off, football players are already feeling the wearing effects of morning practice. Last year, football players only had morning practices once a week on Tuesdays. This year, however, they aren’t quite as fortunate.  They now have morning practices on both Tuesdays and Thursdays. Double trouble!!! Waking up this early biweekly is a major obstacle for many of these athletes, creating hurdles for them that other students do not face. Student athletes have to work frantically to complete homework in order to get as much sleep as possible, constantly battling their demanding schedule. It can also be difficult for athletes to get rides to practice and get to practice in a timely manner, but the biggest challenge of them all? It’s the melee for a shower after practice. “Waking up is not very difficult for me, however the race to the shower after practice and trying to stay awake in class can be a strenuous task. It’s a complete onslaught on the showers after a hard workout, but there are only two showers!,” said senior football player Dean Burden.  

Back-breaking morning practices do not just apply to football athletes, however, other Dubs athletes are also subjected to these exhausting practices. Sports like basketball, and cross country in the past year, have battled with these mentally-draining practices. This year, however, cross country athletes are grateful to have that monkey off their back because they no longer have to deal with these draining practices. For many of them last school year, it was nothing short of a whirlwind. Could you imagine running profusely on the track bright and early in the morning just before a seven hour school day?! “It was incredibly difficult getting to school at 6:00 a.m. or so to have a hard practice, and then when it’s over to have to rush to the showers to get to class on time. I wanted to sleep every afternoon during class. It was very taxing,” said senior cross country runner Hemin Bhatt.

The wearing effects of morning practices on athletes are profound. Clearly, to be a Dub student athlete is to push oneself extraordinarily and make valuable sacrifices such as one’s sleep. This is what can make morning practices so malicious!