Student athletes at Tahoma discover a positive impact

By Vianey Gonzaga, Nick Inman, Sam Leger and Damian Pimentel

Staff Writers

Students here at Tahoma are actively involved in sports, from volleyball to soccer. A popular discussion is how these sports affect students’ lives, both academically and socially.

Mikaela Zavala, a senior soccer player at Tahoma, spoke with us about how sports affected her. She talked about how during freshman year sports helped her academically because she needed good grades to play, but they declined after the season. In her years since, she’s had good grades year-round, which soccer helped motivate.

Zavala also felt that soccer has helped her learn how to positively lead a team. She believes that the leadership and team skills that she has gained will help her in the future.

Other students that we interviewed resonated with Zavala’s thoughts and feelings.

Jasen Pardilla, a sophomore basketball player, said that sports allowed him to meet new people, and he felt that communicating with his team made him a better leader.

Pardilla’s thoughts were similar to Zavala’s as they both felt that being involved in sports helped elevate their grades, as it made them strive to do better in order to be able to be on the team.

Another student, Anthony Matute, a senior soccer player, expressed that playing soccer has helped him socialize more and that being a captain helped him be a more vocal person.

Matute also brought up that soccer helps him get on-track and finish his projects on-time. He also felt that sports positively affected his future by teaching him leadership skills that will help him with jobs in the long-run.

Jasmine Lewis, another sophomore basketball player, told us that she also felt that sports affected her in a strongly positive way, both with her social life and academics, as well as her future.

In all of our interviews, sports were said to be synonymous with a better social life and improved academic work at school, as well as a strong future. This idea was consistent throughout all genders and sports.

See below for video featuring Tahoma student athletes: