Don't Sleep Your Life Away by Kade

Don't Sleep Your Life Away by Kade - February 2026 Scholarship Essay

Being a teen athlete comes with many challenges. You are always striving to be your best and outperform others. With so many talented athletes in high school you have to figure out what you can do to stand out if you want any chance at being recruited to the next level. In order to do this I had to outwork my competition and one way to do this is to train more. We all have 24 hours in a day but most student athletes do not use that time wisely. I decided to be the best that I would have to stop sleeping in and wake up early to put in the work.

It was halfway through my freshman year when I realized how much time I am wasting just sleeping. I started studying nba players and one consistent thing they mentioned is that when they were in high school they would get up super early to train. I decided then that I would no longer let sleep control me. The next day I set my alarm for 5am. I have to admit that the first week was very, very hard. On some days I even hit snooze more times than I should have. But by the second week waking up early started to get easier and I could not believe how much I was getting done.

Waking up at 5am gave me the extra time I needed to outwork my competition. I was getting up more shots than ever and I was able to work on my agility and strength training. Getting up this early also allowed me to have more time in the morning to have a healthy breakfast. All of these things have made me a better basketball player. My shooting percentage has risen and I am bigger and stronger than most other players my same age.

Changing my sleeping habits has had a huge impact on my life as an athlete. It has given me that extra edge to stand out from the crowd. I am currently being recruited by several colleges and many of my teammates ask me what I do to be so good. I plan on continuing to keep a strict sleep schedule and hope that my hard work and dedication will pay off with a great scholarship to an amazing college to play ball. I will never sleep my life away again.