But for a select few, they wait until their senior year to try a new sport or revisit a sport from their past.

Phoebe Reel and Maggie Abel both played a sport their freshman year but decided to take a break during their sophomore and junior years. Reel rejoined the field hockey team after testing out cross country her sophomore year and taking a break from fall sports the next year so she could focus on academics. For Abel, however, she had a different reason for why she took a break from the golf team.

“It was a rough sophomore and junior year, and I did not feel like I was in the right head space to play,” Abel said.

Looking back on their choices, though, both Reel and Abel felt as if they made the wrong decision to stop playing their sport.

“Part of me does [regret taking a break] because I’m still decent at it,” Reel said. “I feel like I could have done better if I continued to play…”

Since they both have not played their sport for a couple years, they didn’t know what to expect when returning to the team.

“…I didn’t know if I was going to make it or not, and I didn’t know what the other girls were going to think,” Abel said, “but it ended up being fine.”

Reel and Abel have already had experience with their sport, but three other seniors are just starting a new sport this year. There are two new seniors on the girls tennis team, Anela Jakubovic and Elma Veljacic, and one new senior on the football team, Joe Kestler.

“I didn’t feel out of place joining as a senior,” Jakubovic said. “Having other seniors that I knew made it a lot easier, and I connected with everyone easily.”

For Kestler, though his sport of choice for the fall is soccer, he felt that transitioning to playing football was not as much of a challenge because he is utilizing the same skills during soccer. While learning to be the football team’s kicker did not present many difficulties, Kestler still had to face some obstacles along the way.

“…I feel more pressure than just running around the field,” Kestler said, “because in football you have one job to do, and if you don’t do your job, then you just mess up.”

Kestler is not only adapting to a new sport, but he is also learning how to balance two sports in one season.

“I’ve adapted well. I mean, I play soccer, so I kick for the football team this year, so it’s the same,” Kestler said. “I don’t really go to football practice because I play soccer, but I go to every game because we don’t have soccer games on Friday, so I’ll say I’ve adapted pretty well.”

When joining the football team, Kestler already had friendships with some of the players, but for Veljacic, she went in with an open mind. 

“I stepped out of my comfort zone a lot, talking to new people,” Veljacic said. “Also, working on better time management, trying to balance homework and extracurriculars.”

While it may be uncommon for students to start sports so late in their high school career, for these athletes, they find it to be beneficial and believe that others shouldn’t hesitate to try something new if they are considering it. 

“Go for it,” Jakubovic said. “It’s your senior year — enjoy every moment of it because it will go a lot faster than you think.”