It’s time to do a deep dive into the 3 sport athletes of Normal West: Ethan Berck, Meredith Bertsche, and Isaiah Herbst.

These student athletes have been through intense times to be able to balance the day-to-day tasks of being an athlete and student. 

There are many challenges to being a three-sport athlete. 

But there are also many  benefits to being a three-sport athlete. 

“One benefit is that it teaches me organization and time management skills. I think balancing three sports and schoolwork has taught me how to use my time wisely and get my work done whether it’s on the bus to a game or right when I get home from practice,” Meredith Bertsche, a three-sport athlete who has been a part of girl’s tennis, basketball, and soccer here at West, comments.

“One challenge is definitely the lack of free time, which also means less time I get to spend with friends and family. But overall I think these challenges and skills I’ve learned from have ultimately benefited me and these skills will hopefully serve me well in college,” Bertsche adds.

Because of these challenges, these three athletes have been able to grow and become better individuals over the years of doing all these activities. 

“Competing in three sports has me interacting with a lot of different people that I might not have outside of these sports. It’s helped to better me by giving me personal interactions across many different people groups and has given me friends that I likely wouldn’t have interacted with prior,” Isaiah Herbest, a 3 sport athlete who has participated in boy’s cross country and track, as well as swim and dive, remarks.

“It’s been a good experience for me. There’s different styles of coaching for every sport not just determined by the physical requirements of the sport. Every coach has different ways of teaching and training and I’ve appreciated them all throughout my years at West.”

“Each of my coaches in my sports take the time to talk with everyone, evaluate how we’re doing as individuals and a team. Each of my coaches obviously want the success of the team but also the success of the individual, and that’s something I really appreciate,” Herbst boasts.

All in all, these Wildcats have made impacts in their sports they have played, and will hold on to the lessons they learned, and the skills they learned that will help in the future, and long run that is life.