By, Caiya Neher, Melisa Tefinlili, Lila Thompson

The transition from middle school to high school is a significant change, and this is most noticeable in sports. 

For some people, the sports dynamic from middle school to high school was very different like it was for freshman Derek Rockwell said. 

“I didn’t know that we were going to run as much as we do. Before every practice, they make us run a mile which we never had to do in middle school. The coaches are harder on us and push us more in practices to get us ready for the games,” Rockwell said.

For others, there was not much of a change when coming from middle school to high school.

“High school is not that much different. I ran the same distances, tried the same races, not really done anything different, and the intensity never really changed and my work ethic was not that bad,” freshman Kaden Wilkings said.

When coming into high school, it is expected that the sport will get more challenging but that is not always how it ends up being.

“It’s not really how I expected. I thought it would be more difficult than what it is. I thought I’d be going on longer runs and doing a lot more speed workouts than what I have been doing. Nothing really else is what I didn’t expect,” Wilking said.

Rockwell was not the only person who felt a difference when moving up to the high school level. 

“High school tennis is definitely a step up. It is much more challenging and competitive because the other players are much older and more experienced. I also have many new teammates that I can play against and have the opportunity and learn more about the sport,” freshman Lola Trent said.

Usually when people play with older teammates, they are able to learn more about the sport and become more well-rounded players overall.

“The difference between high school softball and middle school softball is that high school softball is more mature, serious, and competitive. Middle school softball was like a team to get prepared for the upcoming games on the high school softball team,” freshman Layla Harris said. 

Getting on a more competitive team bring role models and people to look up to. 

“Yes, I expected high school softball to be more mature and more competitive because there are older girls that the younger people see as role models and look up to,” Harris said.