Student athletes travel about 50% of the time, they spend a lot of time on buses together and they have to learn to work well with each other. For some sports, traveling is a lot harder because they have to get used to the surroundings. But for some other sports traveling is what the students look forward to.

      AJ Huskey, junior swimmer, said, “I like travelling to other places, especially further away because it gives me a chance for different competition and more opportunities.” He explained that for swimming it’s either everyone is at a disadvantage or and an advantage depending on where they swim.

   Eliah Kemp, junior softball player, stated, “Traveling gives me a lot more exposure to show my talents, and as a team shows how well we connect and love playing the game.” She expressed that she loves traveling because it gives her a new feel to the game every time.

Senior soccer player Riley Cole prefers playing at home because of the atmosphere of the home fields that the supporters bring.

 For football there is some pressure and anxiety that comes with playing an away game. Drew Gillig, senior, said, “It’s someone else’s and we’re going into their territory.”

Volleyball is another story, Paige Magee, junior, stated that when playing away games, “It’s sometimes hard to get used to everything. Getting used to the different color lines that show the court is a big part of it because it’s sometimes hard to see them.”  

  For other sports such as cross country and golf, things sometimes may be harder to get used to. Senior Carly Ochoa, in her fourth year on the golf team, said, “It’s a lot more challenging playing on a new course because you don’t know it, but playing on a course you practice on it gets a lot easier because you have played it multiple times”.

 Athletic Director Justin Browning thinks that student athletes prioritize things when they know they have to travel. He said about a third of students at Battle are in a sport. Browning expressed that students bond when they travel, and they learn to work together.

  Football Coach Adym Cooney stated that he doesn’t mind traveling because it gives the team an opportunity to play schools their size and the same style of play. Cooney said that he does think sometimes students don’t communicate and do fall behind in school work when they leave school early for a game. He said, “It takes a little more effort for them to be good students.”

    For all sports, traveling includes bonding with the team and learning to work with each other.