Abstract

With the demands placed on student-athletes, it is important to gain insights into their lived experiences to help them cope and balance academics, sports, and personal life by utilizing a qualitative phenomenological research design. A purposive sampling technique was used to select five participants from the senior high school students of Bacolod Trinity Christian School, who were then interviewed individually. One participant was asked to do a follow-up interview to collect additional data. When all interviews were completed, the information from each interview was collected, where the data was then transcribed and gathered to find similarities between each participant’s answers. Researchers used the Qualitative Data Analysis Method, putting the relevant data they collected into codes, categories, and concepts and enabling them to clearly and concisely recognize the findings towards the answers to the study’s questions. The findings show that (1) the student-athletes encounter many challenges and difficulties in their daily life that can test their time management and discipline, (2) there are times when student-athletes prioritize academics over sports or vice versa due to certain circumstances, (3) sports affect overall well-being and personal growth, (4) family and friends' support positively impacts the performance of student-athletes, (5) time management is essential for balancing responsibilities, (6) student-athletes spend time with God through prayer and glorify Him through their sport. Despite each respondent having personal views, similarities can be found among them. Each theme was evaluated and discussed thoroughly to give insight into the recommendations and conclusion of the study.

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