Recently, I got the chance to sit down with Boulder High senior Emma Bagley. Bagley is a very competitive athlete and plays on the Boulder High girls basketball team, as well as the Boulder High girls volleyball team. On the basketball team, Bagley plays forward, which is her favorite position to play. She played club sports until her sophomore year but decided to stick to official school sports as an upperclassman. Bagley has been playing basketball since she was four years old, and has greatly enjoyed her thirteen years in the sport. 

High school sports tend to take a lot of time, and it is very important to be committed to your sport and school as a student-athlete. Bagley spent six days a week practicing for basketball during the season and five days a week practicing for volleyball in the fall. The practice is necessary because the girl’s basketball team has two to three games every week of the season. This is a huge time commitment and can be very difficult. Bagley said of being an athlete, “The hardest part is getting myself motivated to do homework after practice every night when I’m tired, or focusing on school when I need to.” This seems to be true for all athletes at Boulder High, as they need to go home and do hours of homework after vigorous workouts and training almost every day of the week. Sadly, Bagley also said, “None of the actual students go to girl’s basketball games.” This is a sad truth that many girl’s sports face, and can often affect female athletes’ enthusiasm toward their games.

There is also the scary reality of possible injuries that can ensue from the constant wear and tear on the athlete’s bodies. Bagley discussed this and said, “I’ve never had anything [an injury] too serious, but this season in basketball I did get a concussion, which I just got back from, that lasted a fairly long time. It sucks just sitting on the sideline watching for so long, especially since it’s my senior year.” Bagley has been lucky to recover from this concussion, but it could have been much more serious and taken her out of the game for an even longer time.

Although there are many hardships of being a student-athlete, Bagley also discussed the many upsides. Bagley said, “The best part about being a student-athlete is probably knowing that you’re a part of something, the feeling of involvement. Also, having the teachers support you and your team feels really good.” Bagley feels rewarded for her hard work, and also discussed her favorite part of the game saying, “I love the girls on my team, they make everything so much more fun. Also, when you can feel all the hard work you’ve put in actually making a difference, it makes everything so much more worth it.” Bagley and the rest of the team formed a tight-knit community, and going to practice every day was so much better with the support and bonds that she had with the rest of the team.

Since there are many upsides to her sports career, I asked if Bagley was interested in continuing to play sports in college. Bagley said, “I hope to play club in college, I’m definitely not good enough to play at the higher level, but sports have been such a huge part of my life for so long and I know I’m not ready to be done playing yet.” When asked what she would miss most about playing sports at the high school level, Bagley said, “I think I’ll probably miss the structure of the fixed schedule a lot, as well as being able to go every day after school and have fun and take my mind off things for a while by playing with friends.”

Bagley is looking forward to college and will always remember her impressive academic and sports career at Boulder High with nothing but fun and happy memories.