Owen Nguyen / Staff reporter

There are many high-level athletes in our school, community, and province but all of them have a different journey and experience throughout their entire career. My name is Owen Nguyen: I compete as a national level player for tennis, and I have been playing since I was five years old. I have won multiple national titles for my age group, and in 2021 I won my age group for under 14 singles and finalist for doubles; the following year I won the under 16 doubles.

As a high-level athlete for multiple years, I have had multiple ups and downs and many learning experiences. Something I found important so far is that sports not only teach you skills of the game, but it also teaches life skills, an example of some life skills that are taught are hard work, determination, discipline, and so many more.

 I am currently in the EPIC program at Gleneagle which allows me to miss some in class school and instead do some online. With a busy tennis schedule, it reduces the amount of time for me to do activities that an average teenager does, and it gives me less time to do my homework and I get less sleep and time overall.

This schedule can cause you to be burned out a lot of the time and less motivated if it feels like a job that is day in and day out. In order to counter this, you have to take very good care of yourself. You have to manage and be aware of your own stress levels and time management.

There are a few ways that I cope with stress, one method is by taking walks or going for a run, this empties your mind and forces you to just focus on yourself in that moment. The other method I use is by doing something for yourself, as an example I like to call my friend and play games with them once in a while, this helps takes your mind off the idea of thinking about your sports or school and focuses on enjoying yourself.

 Time management is super important to, in order to maximize your time, and you must get things done as soon as possible and be efficient by completing whatever task you received, and I must be smart about when to do it.

Lastly, the most important thing about being an athlete is having a good balance of family/friends, sport, and school. You must keep these three categories to keep a healthy mind and body, adding on these categories will keep you motivated and happier throughout your whole life.

Without sport I think I would be a whole different person in life and sport can create many new experiences and will help you deal with obstacles along the way.