Playing Division I sports is an aspiration for many high school athletes, and a common narrative is using college to pursue sports rather than academics and bask in the glory of a full-ride scholarship. However, at Ivy League Schools, all registered in the NCAA Division I, athletes do not receive athletic scholarships. Harvard athletes choose to juggle academics and sports because they are unwilling to relinquish their love for either. Yet every year, Harvard student-athletes quit their sport—often after just one year
Balancing academics and athletics often leaves no time for other extracurriculars, resume-building, or social activities, forcing athletes to sacrifice. “All the breaks are filled with skiing; spring break is filled with racing, Thanksgiving is filled with training, winter break is racing and training,” said Meredith Schwartz ’27, a former member of Harvard Nordic Skiing. These opportunities are a unique part of undergraduate study, and they are difficult to ignore once you have explored them.
Schwartz first got a taste of the opportunities that she could have with more time when she got sick right before Thanksgiving and had to take a week off. “I had the best week of the school year so far when I was not skiing because I was just doing school and catching up on my real life,” said Schwartz. This sense that varsity athletics goals don’t align with ‘real life’ goals is a common reason athletes choose to step away. “I had so much fun not skiing, which is terrible because skiing is still one of my favorite things, but I realized I can’t do it anymore,” Schwartz shared.
Martha Merriam ’22 was a fencer competing internationally for the U.S. National Team in high school. Merriam arrived on campus thinking she would pursue fencing all four years, but left Harvard Fencing after her first year on the team. In high school, she had struggled to explore other interests due to her rigorous training schedule: “I wasn’t able to do anything besides train and go to school. So, I wanted to try more of a normal life and try some extracurriculars,” said Merriam.
Many Harvard athletes never play their sport competitively after graduating, so prioritizing vocational goals is essential while an undergraduate. “There’s so many other extracurricular opportunities like research and volunteering that I had never really been able to do my whole life,” said Merriam. “I knew that I wanted to step more into pre-med and science.” When varsity athletics are no longer fulfilling and playing professionally isn’t an option, quitting in college becomes a more attractive choice.
This is a difficult choice for many undergraduates as they assess how much their passion for competing will last. However, leaving competitive sports in one’s rear view can reveal new interests and passions on the road ahead. Unrestricted by holiday training camps, Schwartz spent her summer in Shenzhen, China with the Harvard Association for U.S.-China Relations and worked for the Crimson EMS during the school year.
Limited time forces varsity athletes to discover and commit to new passions quickly. Annabelle Brooks ’27, a former Harvard Nordic Ski Team member, is now a member of the Radcliffe Pitches a cappella group. “I couldn’t fully immerse myself in either skiing or a cappella last year,” said Brooks. “The longer I tried to stay on top of school work while living in both the acappella world and ski world, the more I realized I had to choose one to excel in either.”
Academic rigor is rarely the reason that athletes quit, but prioritizing new experiences over athletic competition is at the center of this decision. “As my studies are concerned, I don’t think they were sacrificed for sport, but I do think finding time to devote sufficient attention to my studies was harder,” Brooks said.
Leaving a team is not a question of the decision to juggle academics and athletics, but more so the fact that our hours on campus are limited. As Merriam put it, “There are only 24 hours in a day.”
Quitting a sport doesn’t mean athletes have lost their passion for it, but rather that their priorities have changed. Nevertheless, the athlete mindset is difficult to leave behind. “It’s super hard for me now because every time I start training [for a new sport], I spiral into thinking I need to become super fit to be able to race. Then I realized, ‘No, that’s not my goal now,’” Schwartz said. It is not necessarily the competitive drive and love for the sport that diminishes, but more the change in the training environment and team.
The absence of athletic scholarships is one less factor in the decision to quit, since athletes are already paying for school. This flexibility is also seen in the classroom, as there are no merit scholarships where students must keep grades over a certain threshold to maintain a scholarship. Ultimately, the beauty of a liberal arts education lies in its opportunities. As sad as it may be, quitting a varsity sport might be what opens new doors.
Breagh Bridge ’27 breaghbridge@college.harvard.edu is a varsity athlete who dreads the cold bike ride over the river—but has no plans to quit her sport.