High school sports have become more competitive over the years. With colleges scouring basketball teams for potential college athletes, some students have put aside their high school number in favor of homemade jerseys. Complete dedication to the sport takes time, energy, and full commitment.

Students across Bearden are picking up recreational sports as a way to unwind and have fun with friends.

Senior Luke Dudrick used to play for Bearden’s junior varsity basketball team, but decided against returning for his junior year.

“I had to wake up at five in the morning every day to practice,” Dudrick said. “I was always tired during school.

“It was still a good experience; I learned a lot. I got a lot better when I played for Bearden.”

Instead of continuing with Bearden athletics, Dudrick has played for a church league basketball team the past two years.

“You’re still playing the same sport – it’s not a different game,” Dudrick said. “It’s just more casual.”

Other students have created their own sort of league as a method of entertainment. Spikeball is a game consisting of two teams of two spiking a rubber baseball-sized ball onto a low-to-the- ground circular net in order to score points.

Seniors Thomas Gore and Jordan Tibbits have held a Spikeball tournament the past two years as a way to bring friends together while playing a local favorite sport. The first year featured around 20 teams, and it almost doubled in size the second year.                                                                                   

“It was strictly to have fun,” Gore said. “It wasn’t a moneymaker. It was just organizing what we like to do.”

A recurring theme associated with playing recreational sports is having a good time in a low stress environment. Whether the sport involves a net 10 feet in the air, or a net only a few inches above the ground, Bearden students agree that participating is worthwhile.

Junior Emma Mink, a member of her church’s basketball team, implores her classmates to play recreational sports.

“I encourage people to join some sort of recreational sport so they get the same opportunity and level of joy I have gotten out of it,” Mink said.