High school soccer players already have a huge workload, as the season falls at the tail end of the school year, but they also play a considerable number of games, considering the physical demands of the games and the distances we have to travel for some games. The players obviously have to put in some work to succeed, but they should not be physically and mentally drained after each game. Going to travel with their teammates is obviously fun, but it is just too much for us.

    These student-athletes have to play every team in their conference, both home and away, for two months straight. Take into account that not only do they have to travel at least once a week, but they also have to run large amounts, with the average player covering six to seven miles, and some even running nine and a half miles. Professional players have come out multiple times complaining about the workload that they deal with. These are professional athletes who are saying this; we, as kids, just are not able to handle all this workload from games, school work, and life outside of that.

    When I, for example, have to practice every day, study, or do homework, then on Tuesday I have to play a home game, have to practice for two days with no time to recover, make a trip to play an away, and then have to study to make sure I can keep up my grades to the best of my ability. That schedule is not only physically draining, but also mentally draining. That makes it very hard to keep going with it, then on top of that, you never know what could happen in between in your personal life, and just ruin the schedule.

   Athletic directors and players should put their foot down. The athletes should be playing with at least three days of recovery to be able to at least get some sort of recovery in.