Feature: Baseball & Band

Upcoming Senior Drew Pesina shares how he handles participating in both baseball, and high school band.

"Hello!

I’m Drew Pesina, and I am an incoming senior euphonium player. During my first two years of high school, I had to balance my time between band, baseball, and school. Although I had to learn how to manage my time efficiently, I promise you that it is possible and worth the experience.

If you plan on participating in multiple activities, you have to learn how to prioritize your time; you will want to make sure that all of your school work gets done on time. To do so, make sure to prioritize what needs to get done first, and then focus on helping yourself by getting ahead of the game. Getting ahead on your school work will prevent you from having to worry about doing work after getting back home super late, whether that be at 12am after a football game, 9pm after an intense baseball game, or 6pm after a rehearsal in the middle of the week.

You’ll have multiple opportunities (like lunch and before school) to get work done in either classrooms, or the library for maximum focus. If you get to school early, I’d advise you to find a spot where you can do a little bit of extra work before the day starts so that you can get ahead. Make sure your teachers know that you are balancing two activities and let them know that you’d like some one-on-one time to review with them if you need to catch up on something.

I did not struggle too much with balancing the two activities (and when I did, it was because of poor time management). The head baseball coach, Coach Stone, is very flexible with the band (especially in the fall with our marching season) and understands that our competitions and rehearsals are above fall league play. Mr.Sealy is also flexible with baseball season in the spring, but the main thing you have to make sure to do is tell both your coach and Mr.Sealy about any game, rehearsal, practice or competition well in advance. To do so, you could hand them a schedule with highlighted conflicting events so that they can then work together to find a solution.

You’ll have to be mentally prepared to be a bit more tired than everyone else in band rehearsal; you'll be lifting weights and running during the day in baseball, which could make you tired before the after school rehearsal even starts. That being said, I found that being in baseball and band helped me to get stronger and build up stamina. Additionally, by being involved with both activities, you make a lot of great friends and fun memories that make it all worth it in the end. I highly recommend doing two activities if you are able to; that way, you’ll experience the most during your high school years.

The reason I did not participate in baseball this year was because I needed to earn my language credit to graduate on time. I would be doing baseball if I was able to, and I am planning on joining back next year.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to email me: drew628992@gmail.com

Thanks for reading my story, I hope it helped and made you realize that it is possible to do more than just band!" -Drew Pesina