For Clarke Central Athletes, the Day Does Not End When Practice Ends

By Anna La

ATHENS, Ga. – Troy Rucker, a senior student-athlete at Clarke Central High School who competes in track and field, football and baseball, starts his day when school begins at 8 a.m. After classes, he heads to track practice at 4 p.m., finishes around 5:15 p.m. and then goes straight to work at Surcheros by 5:30 p.m., often staying until close at 10 p.m.

Rucker is one of many student-athletes balancing more than academics and athletics. On some teams, including the boys track and field team, one-third of athletes work part-time jobs. For many, the day does not end when practice does.

While some student-athletes pursue school-based opportunities such as Work-Based Learning, UGA Young Dawgs and Athens Community Career Academy, others find jobs on their own. On the boys track and field team, all 13 athletes who work part-time found their jobs independently.

Work-Based Learning is designed to connect students with real-world experience, allowing them to earn a paycheck and class credit while building professional skills. Vail Carvell, a senior soccer player in Work-Based Learning, said the program “allows for so much flexibility in your day’s schedule.” Still, only a small percentage of participants are student-athletes. Brooke Thompson, Clarke Central’s Work-Based Learning coordinator, said roughly 10% of the program’s 73 students this semester are athletes.

Another program, UGA Young Dawgs, gives high school juniors and seniors the opportunity to participate in college-level research. Athens Community Career Academy is a partnership between the Clarke County School District, Athens Technical College and the University of Georgia that allows students to explore postsecondary pathways. Together, these programs show that student-athletes are balancing more than practices and schoolwork, often managing packed schedules, priorities and trade-offs.

For Rucker, who works 15 hours a week at Surcheros across three shifts, managing those priorities comes down to time management. “Anytime that I get, like, free if I don’t have practice or something, I’ll just make sure I get my schoolwork done first,” Rucker said.

If anything changes, he communicates with both his coach and his boss to stay on top of practice, work and academics. That approach has helped him avoid missing games, practices or team events because of his job.

For Rucker, the job is about more than filling time after school. He said he started working last July because he wants to be financially prepared for college. He said balancing work, sports and school has taught him one of the biggest lessons beyond high school: how to manage his time.

Rucker’s experience is not unusual on the boys track and field team. Boys track coach Zackery Howard said one-third of his athletes have jobs, a number he considers high for a high school program. “These kids just work more,” Howard said. “They just have to.”

Practice starts at 4 p.m. each day, Howard said, and he tries to have athletes out by 5:30 so they can make it to shifts that often begin at 6. Some head straight to the bus stop outside the school, while others walk down Baxter Street to nearby restaurants and stores. At times, Howard said, he has taken athletes to work after practice. “I’ve taken kids to work,” Howard said. “They’ll get out of the car wearing a Clarke Central shirt ... and change, but at the end of the day, they’re wearing a Clarke Central shirt into work.”

Jaylen Davis, another student-athlete who competes in track and field and plays football, is also balancing school, sports and a job. Davis, who also works at Surcheros, said working has forced him to think carefully about his priorities. For him, staying eligible means school comes first. He said the experience has taught him responsibility and money management.

The pressure Rucker and Davis describe is not limited to them. On the girls track and field team, coach Alexis Hunter-Lonon estimated that 17 of the team’s 55 athletes are working while competing. She said conflicts between work and track happen weekly, especially during practice, and that the effect often shows up through stress and fatigue.

Both coaches described a balance that can help students grow while also wearing them down. Jobs can teach independence, discipline and responsibility, but the demands of work, school and sports often leave little time for friendships, rest or the parts of high school that are supposed to feel normal. Howard said that while employment can help young people become more self-sufficient, the drawback is that they do not always get to just “go be a kid.”

Stories like Rucker’s and Davis’s show that working can build independence and prepare student-athletes for life after high school, but it often comes with sacrifices in time, energy and the chance to simply be teenagers. Rucker offered simple advice for those trying to find that balance: “Just like in life, learn how to manage your time and get everything you need done so you have free time.”