Triathlete

Between being at school for seven hours and having to study countless hours is a lot for any teenager. Staying another four sweat-stained hours after school and having a normal teenage social life it can become quite difficult. Being a triathlete is tough, but not impossible.
Marisa Perez a 17-year-old junior is a triathlete. Perez plays golf in the fall, basketball in the winter and soccer in the spring. She started playing golf in high school originally because her mother wanted her to play a sport for the fall as well as other family members encouraging her to play. She’s been on varsity soccer for three years and started varsity basketball this year. Perez has been playing soccer since the age of four and continued because she enjoyed the sport and was good at playing it. After high school Perez would like to go to a university and play soccer there as well. She would like to go into the medical field and become a surgeon.
“Being a triathlete has its pros and cons,” Perez said. Meeting new people who she would’ve of probably never have met if she wasn’t in those sports and the atmosphere of being involved into those sports and being recognized as the few people at Central who are triathletes are all rewarding to her.
“Some of the difficulties that come with being a triathlete for me is time management,” she said. Social life, her club soccer team and being able to keep track of her academics especially because of the many honors classes she’s in all add to the difficulties.” When I’m finishing up a 5:30-7:30 practice on a Friday night, my friends are out doing things and I’m ready to go home and go to bed, as for my academics by the end of the day after being at school for seven hours the laziness kicks in.”
“It’s all worth it, it helps me stay on track and will pay off in the future,” she said. Education is very important to Perez; it’s essential for her success in order to be where she wants to be in life and become a surgeon. Her mother always made it a point to place education over everything and valued it so highly it was only right to do so.
Perez defies all obstacles in front of her and continues to keep going. If one day Perez were unable to play sports she would still have all her knowledge to fall back on and she’s proud to be able to say that. She just not another player on the field, she’s a leader in aspects of her life.