After every long day of school, senior Filipo Toelau begins his practices, training, and after all of that homework. This is the reality for the nearly 7.8 million high school student athletes who manage the pressure of sports with the workload of a full high school schedule, according to a 2023 article from The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
“After school, I go straight to the athletic trainer’s room to get all my injuries treated. After that I will attend [Football] practice from 4-7. After practice, I head home and do any homework that needs to be done.” Toelau said.
Even with a challenging athletic schedule, Toelau takes college level classes like AP Biology and DE Statistics.
“My favorite class this year is probably DE Statistics because the class is challenging and it makes me actually work hard to complete assignments. I also really like the way the class is taught compared to other math classes.” Toelau said.
Toelau joins the 12% of students that take AP classes, according to the 2022-23 Harrisonburg High School, School Quality Profile taken annually by the Virginia Department of Education. Among the academic goals that Toelau has for this year, he seeks to reach his highest track goals for his senior season.
“My goal for this track season is to take the 100 meter School record of 10.8 and possibly make it 10.6,” said Toelau.
A challenging hurdle, but one that Toelau can clear. Moving from Miami, FL, last year Toelau experienced the growing pains that come with moving to a new school.
“I didn’t have a lot of friends, but now I have a lot of friends that care about me,” Toelau said.
Toelau also held the weight of managing injuries during the track season, but he notes his track coach, Matthew Denlinger, for helping him to continue pushing,
“Coach Denlinger and Coach Ray, my hurdle coach, they motivate me to keep going. Even when I fall they pick me back up,” Toelau said.
Toelau looks to further his passion for running by taking it to the collegiate level.
“I plan on doing it in college if it does get to that point, I would hope maybe Olympics one day, there’s a lot of training involved with that, that takes time, so we’ll see,” Toelau said.
