School ends at 2:27, while others unwind after school, wrestlers are just getting started. Practice starts about 1-2 hours after school and stretches late into the evening, leaving little time to rest before assignments start piling up, a routine that is testing both their determination and their stamina.
Balancing wrestling and school demands requires serious dedication. Between a long night of doing homework, waking up early for school, and then going to practice, these athletes learn time management fast. For many people, the struggle isn’t on the mats; it’s keeping up with their grades with the little time they have.
The girls’ wrestling team has been around for 7 seasons now and was launched in January 2019. The team was formed immediately after the NJ State Interscholastic Athletic Association unanimously voted to sanction girls’ wrestling as an official high school sport in October 2018. Before then, the girls would have to play on the guys’ wrestling team. Notable alumni like Leigh Jaynes (a 2015 World Bronze Medalist) paved the way as early “icebreakers” for the sport at RV. While sanctioned since 2019, the girls’ wrestling team became a fully official “sponsored sport” in May 2022, leading to the dedicated team state tournaments and separate rulebooks.
Balancing school and sports goes beyond just showing up for practice. Practices can go as long as 3 and ½ hours, leaving athletes with limited time in the afternoon to study and do schoolwork. Because of this, wrestlers must learn to manage their time carefully, using any free time during school and before practice to finish their work. In addition to that, they also have a strict diet, especially during the season. Renaii Johnson explained how her eating habits had changed depending on the time of the season. At the beginning, she focused on eating healthy meals like fruit, yogurt, and rice cake. However, when it came time to cut weight, her meals became more limited, often consisting of smaller portions of food. The day before her match, the diet became even stricter, with only a light lunch and drinking water throughout the day. Even after the season had ended, she continued to maintain a steady diet and stay active during the offseason. These long practices and strict diets show that wrestling requires not only physical strength but also discipline and commitment outside of practice.
“I had to wait after school until 4:30 for practice, so I could’ve used the time then to do school work instead of doing it at home. If you have a study hall you can use that as well and your i.e. Overall just stay on top of your grades because that determines whether you’ll be able to do your sport in general” Olivia berberabe a freshman who just started wrestling this year explains how she, Jordan Ryce and other wrestlers may sometimes stay in the library after school to try and finish their homework while waiting for practice to begin, while others do it during i.e. and tutorial and how they try their best to use all the time they get to finish their school work to stay on top of their grades and to even stay on the team
Other wrestlers like Renaii Johnson, a freshman wrestler who got into regionals and won 2nd place in districts, carefully plan out their time to keep up with school work. Renaii’s routine highlights the extra effort needed outside of school hours to stay on top of assignments while still practicing in wrestling.
Nina Derry, another freshman on the team, had balanced wrestling and school, which required strong prioritization. Nina shows that academics remain a major focus, even with a busy sports schedule. She prioritizes school and wrestling the most, not leaving time to do anything else.
Even with long practices, strict diets, late nights, and constant pressure, these wrestlers continue to push themselves both on the mat and in the classroom. Their dedication shows that success in sport isn’t just about physical strength; it’s about discipline, time management, and determination. As the wrestling season has ended, they proved that with hard work, it’s possible to balance school and wrestling and still succeed.
