A lot of changes happen during the shift from middle school to high school, but one of the biggest happens in athletics

From 8th grade a team to varsity high school athletics presents a whole new experience for freshman athletes.

“The main difference between middle school and high school athletics would be that it requires a lot more dedication and there is a lot more time invested into it,” freshman Brent Boruff said.

Going from practice before school and a 45 minute period to an hour and a half period and a longer practice after school, high school athletes log almost an hour and a half more a day playing sports at the high school level.

But time commitment isn’t the only difference between middle school and high school sports.

The drive to move up to varsity brings a completely different element to practice

“So being on 8th grade or middle school football you’re practicing for your own spot on the team,” freshman Charlie Knight said. “But whenever you’re in high school or like playing on freshman team or JV or varsity you wanna practice as hard as you can to move up to show the coaches what you can do.”

This shift also affects a coach’s perspective.

“I spent four years at the middle school, this is my second year at the high school and I’d say the biggest difference is just the stakes,” assistant basketball coach Ben Manning said. “So the stakes are so much higher at the high school level especially at the varsity level you’re trying to win district ball games and trying to win district and the playoff positioning that you’re trying to get into and just the energy level and the fans that show up to the varsity games there is just so much more at stake then at the middle school games”

Reporting for WTV I’m Ben Anderson.