Each year, athletes learn about managing their schedule. Between homework, games, practices, and other extracurriculars, finding time for everything is a major balancing act. But for student athletes at CHS, the balancing act is taken one step further at the end of September.

Forum Day, Community’s day for trips and group activities as a forum, fell on Friday, September 24th this year– right in the middle of fall sports season. Athletes at Pioneer, Huron and Skyline alike faced the challenge of talking to their coaches about missing practices or games because of their trips.

“It was a little bit hard to talk to [my coach],” said Aidan Tank. Tank is a sophomore who plays JV soccer at Huron. “I have a pretty close relationship with him though, so he was understanding about missing a practice on Friday… I didn’t have any repercussions from missing the practice or anything.”

Michael Savage, a senior runner at Huron, reflected Tank’s attitude. “Even though it wasn’t that easy to talk to [my coach], there weren’t any repercussions or anything.”

Not all athletes were as lucky as Tank or Savage, however. Garrett Wood, a senior captain for the varsity water polo team at Pioneer had to miss watching the JV game because of the Stapleton Forum’s trip. “The JV team plays after us, and we are supposed to be there to cheer them on,” said Wood. Unfortunately, Wood was required to swim extra at the end of practice on Sunday because he missed the game.

“I think it’s good that it teaches you that if you miss one thing, you have to make up for it in a different way,” said Wood. “It’s good to have a little bit of punishment for missing something important.”

Some athletes, on the other hand, had no trouble at all with their coaches. Savage was one of them. “I told [my coach] that I had Forum Day and that I would make up the run on my own, and he was completely fine with it.”

“Coaches are usually pretty understanding about these kinds of school activities,” said Wood. “As long as us players can keep communicating with them, they stay flexible and can, for the most part, accommodate our schedules.”

Still, talking to coaches about missing practices is an issue for many athletes. Because of possible punishment, many students shy away from talking to these authority figures. According to Savage, “It’s necessary. But it’s definitely not easy.”