Quitting a sport means saying goodbye to the game, but it’s also leaving behind a team and part of an identity. Students often step away, not out of weakness, but because the environment becomes overwhelming or unsustainable.
Student athletes often feel pressure to stay involved, concerned with the negative connotation that quitting carries, but leaving behind a sport can give students time to pursue other interests.
For many athletes, it isn’t a decision that comes quickly or easily. Instead, it comes from months of accumulated stress and attempts to balance the sport with other aspects of life.
For some students, this choice comes from a loss of passion for their sport. Participating in a sport takes work and dedication, so it is difficult for an athlete to put in unceasing effort if they lose any desire to play.
“The main reason I had to quit volleyball was because I didn’t have any more love for it,” sophomore Maddie Schreiner said. “I didn’t care like I used to, and that made it hard to show up everyday.”
For others, the choice is taken from them entirely due to some form of injury that prevents them from playing.
“I was forced to sit out my sophomore season due to shoulder issues, and I tried going back into wrestling for my junior year,” former football player and wrestler senior Barrett Haun said. “From then on things got worse than they had been before.”
When an athlete is forced to quit a sport due to an injury, it is often sudden and surprising. When other athletes choose to leave a team, they can savor final moments with their teammates and enjoy their favorite parts of the game, but injured athletes do not have this luxury.
Athletes can also find it difficult to leave a sport because when participating in something for a long period of time, it becomes a part of their identity.
“Wrestling was really hard to quit just because of how long I had been doing it,” Haun said. “It had become a big part of who I was.”
Some students leave a sport behind to make room for future opportunities.
“Volleyball started to get in the way of other goals that I have set for myself,” junior Eilee Costello said. “I wanted to be able to devote more of my time to college and other things that will help me in the future.”
Sports are also a huge time commitment. Daily practices, weekend tournaments, and late nights at away games can add up quickly.
“The main thing I see being a problem for students is the time commitment,” volleyball coach Kaylee Kucera said.
When athletes invest mass amounts of time into a sport without seeing the progress they would like, it can be discouraging.
“It was frustrating to not be progressing like I wanted to,” Costello said.
Friendships often keep athletes motivated, but even that can shift. When sports become overwhelming, the bonds that once kept students involved may no longer be enough to justify the time.
“Before I quit, I mostly kept playing because of my friends within volleyball,” sophomore Jaime Vogel said. “I still hang out with that group, but during the season we are constantly together.”
One of the hardest parts of leaving a sport is letting go of the relationships built through it.
“With football, the most upsetting part was leaving the guys and the memories I had made with them through the sport,” Haun said.
Even with the emotional weight of quitting, students have a lot to gain when they step away. Without the demands of a sport, they can shift their focus to academics, jobs, and other activities.
“I was able to get more opportunities for academic scholarships when I poured more time into school,” Haun said.
Despite the stigma that surrounds leaving a sport behind, there is a large amount of thought that goes into the decision. Students have a lot to lose from their choice, but there are still positives that come from it.
For every student who steps back from their sport, the decision runs deeper than it may seem and is personal to each athlete. Whether the reason is burnout, injury, or shifting priorities, quitting does not mean failure, it often means choosing what is healthiest. For many athletes, stepping away helps them rediscover who they are beyond the game.
