A lot of high school athletes can find reasons to write off work outs or before school practices or an opportunity to further their skills because they don’t feel like showing up, or showing up early to achieve greatness, but not Michael Holmes.
Michael Holmes is a sophomore who is also a multi-sport athlete, who plays soccer and runs track. For soccer Holmes plays soccer at Penn and also does club soccer for Echo Premier and plays futsal for Adolescent Gronk Elite. Holmes has four practices each week for soccer alone even during the off season. For track Holmes is a sprinter and does long jump. He has 6 practices for track per week to grow and improve. Holmes is a dedicated athlete who practices relentlessly during his off seasons. He takes massive efforts to improve upon his athletics and academics throughout his offseason.
Holmes trains day and into the night to achieve greatness, he has morning track practice every morning with Tuesday and Thursday being speed training focused days. His hard work doesn’t stop there, Holmes also has practice after school on Mondays and Wednesdays. His schedule is always full of practices and any opportunity he can take to get better. With Holmes’s busy athletic schedule he finds it difficult sometimes to focus on his academics. He has to use his study halls very wisely, take time after school to make sure he can study and get good scores on his tests. He does all this while maintaining his astounding 4.2 grade point average. With all Holmes has on his plate it can make it somewhat of a challenge to have a personal life while maintaining his stellar academics and his athletic duties. Regardless he makes time for his friends and family making sure to spend time with them whenever he can.
He says, “I have a lot more practices during my time in the offseason so I often find it harder to manage my time, and it just so happens that during my offseason is also finals time. So it makes it harder for me to maintain and balance my time between my athletics, academics and my personal life.”
Holmes goes as far as saying his offseason time is a lot harder than his time during the season. His time during the offseason is stretched thin with all the practices he has. He has more practices during his off seasons than his time in season. The practices during his offseason are intense and also require a lot more effort, the practices consist of a lot of conditioning and weight room work.
Teammate Keagan Zaber says, “ It’s honestly so impressive how much Michael is dedicated to things he does, with his workouts, school, and most of all sports. He’s always looking for opportunities to improve, and I think it shows a lot of character to show out and do the things Michael does.”
