NHS provides a wide variety of sports for athletes to participate in. However, some students prefer extracurricular activities that are not offered at our high school.
Junior Joe Zubiate competes in kickboxing outside of school and has been at it for three years now. Zubiate said that when he first got interested in the sport, he was watching UFC. After that, he found a local gym, signed up and the rest is history. Although the road to success has not been easy, he continues to face day-to-day challenges of pushing through to get better.
“It’s kinda rough after a loss cause it’s a little different cause you’re like I got beat up instead of just losing a game,” Zubiate said.
All sports can teach kids at a young age some important life lessons they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. Through competing in sports, learning how to work well with others, working hard for what they want and that everyone makes mistakes are all important life lessons to learn. Senior Logan Buchanan said that he was seven when he started weightlifting and it has taught him a lot. Precious memories created during this learning process are memories that are irreplaceable.
“I had a lifting group, it was me and like seven other guys, sophomore year. It was an after-school lifting group kinda thing and every day for a month we did deadlifts. Our PRs went up a lot and it was pretty fun. Yeah, I miss those times,” Buchanan said.
Time commitment and dedication are both qualities it takes to play any sport but it’s even more intense, considering competitions can be hours away from home. People that are determined and have the right mindset are willing to make sacrifices. Zubiate said that he has visited places such as Wisconsin, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, and Louisiana.
“[My favorite place is] Wisconsin [because] It’s nice and quiet,” Zubiate said. They’re basically Canadian, everyone’s got a Canadian accent.”
Senior Ethan Bach competes in men’s volleyball through the YMCA in Wichita. He said that his competitions are a little closer to home in areas such as Kansas City, Missouri even though that’s still three hours away. Having more sports offered at NHS would be nice so in turn athletes would not have to travel as far.
“I think it should [be brought to NHS.] It’s just a sport I enjoy playing and I know we’re getting really close to having a men’s league in Kansas there is just not enough schools that have it,” Bach said.
Other students such as Zubiate also agree that more sports should be offered NHS, in particular kickboxing. Zubiate thinks that allowing kids to get their anger out in a supervised environment would limit the amount they fight with each other.
“Yes I do [think kickboxing should be brought to NHS] because I think it would refrain a lot of people from fighting if they had the option to do it in a controlled environment and with safety gear,” Zubiate said.
The various benefits you can get from just trying something new are countless. Getting out of a comfort zone is hard for everyone but it can be worth it in the end. Buchanan said that anyone interested in weightlifting should try it and stick to it because if they don’t stick to it they will never see results.
“I think you can learn a lot about yourself over time if you even try it. I think trying to be in good shape is something everybody should try to do,” Buchanan said.
