It is a crisp Friday night at Buddy Echols Field. The stands are a sea of Coppell High School students, parents and teachers participating in the white-out game, in support of Coppell football.
Music from the band fills the stadium, mingling with the scent of popcorn, cheers from the student section and alumni reuniting for homecoming. School spirit at its peak.
The reality for the athletes on the field is starkly different, however.
Leading up to the game is a string of intense sacrifices, 6 a.m. practices, hours of watching film, after-school practices and ice packs in the training room.
Stepping onto the field serves as a reward.
“When you walk out and you see all the fans, your family and the other team, it is sort of like the culmination of all the work that we put in through the summer and through the offseason,” senior football wide receiver Ethan Schuy said. “It is like getting your paycheck; you think ‘OK, now I finally get to play the game.’”
Coppell athletics has experienced remarkable success in recent years. The football team’s last two regular seasons went undefeated. Girls basketball advanced to the Class 6A state semifinals in the 2023 season. Wrestling has dominated its competition and swim and dive secured two district runner-up trophies in the last two years.
This thriving sports culture is fueled by the dedication of student athletes and the pursuit of victory, but this drive can cause athletes to weigh the costs and ask themself: What is the price of perfection?
“It is a lifestyle,” swim and dive coach Jonathan Drori said. “It is not like a choice that you make once or twice.”
Being a CHS athlete is more than just a commitment to a sport. The training schedules are rigorous, extending beyond school hours and into weekends.
“There will be plenty of nights where we play and I do not get home until 10 p.m. or 11 p.m., and then I still have some homework to do and practice early morning at 7 a.m.,” senior basketball forward Ethan Macken said.
For many, the sacrifices trickle into all other aspects of their lives.
“We had girls that didn’t get to go to homecoming for club soccer,” girls soccer coach Craig Able said. “For us this year, playoffs aligned with spring break, so unfortunately, you don’t get the spring break that you wanted because you have to train and stay for playoffs.”
These tough decisions reflect the deeper realities of being a student-athlete, where every choice carries a cost extending far beyond the field.
“It is the mindset of, are you willing to put in the extra hours,” Able said. “Are you willing to take care of your body? Are you willing to take care of your mental health? Are you willing to have the tough conversations? Are you willing to sacrifice?”
With the intense schedules, burnout is common. Many athletes strive for perfection, pushing themselves to the edge both mentally and physically.
“A lot of the time they are in a race against themselves,” Drori said. “That drive typically happens internally. The ones who are truly passionate do not want to miss a single rep or a part of a game or practice. That can be just as harmful as helpful.”
Coppell coaches prioritize well-being and step in when they see students pushing themselves too hard.
“In all cases where I had to step in and help student-athletes understand balance, they were trying to meet the expectations of someone else, not themselves,” head athletics trainer Yvette Carson said. “Sometimes it was a parent, a club coach, or even a statistic that they were chasing. It was an outside influence.”
For some athletes, the environment loses its spark. Senior shooting guard Mariam El Gharby, a former Coppell basketball player, made the difficult decision to quit prior to her senior year.
“I’ve been playing basketball since second grade,” El Gharby said. “I loved it, but I wanted my senior year to be about more than just basketball. My dad didn’t fully support my decision, but I feel better about my life and my choices. It was a breath of fresh air.”
Still, some think the sacrifices athletes make are what set them apart.
“Athletes are special,” boys athletics coordinator and football coach Antonio Wiley said. “I truly believe that not everybody can be an athlete – it is just me being honest. I tell my football players everyday football is not for everybody because it takes a certain amount of discipline, persistence, will and grit. It takes a lot of sacrifice, but that is what makes them special.”
Coaches used to take stricter, less flexible approaches to training, emphasizing toughness and pushing through. Today, many are shifting to a more balanced philosophy prioritizing both mental health and striving for success.
“Back in my day, you did not talk about how you were feeling, you just pushed through it,” girls athletics coordinator and softball coach Emily Witt said. “Now, we understand that these athletes are balancing so much more than just their sport.”
Several initiatives have been introduced to help athletes manage their workload. All sports incorporate character curriculum into their coaching, providing tools to navigate through the emotional highs and lows of playing. Swim and dive offers study halls for students struggling with schoolwork to complete assignments.
“The science behind athletics and the human body has advanced to the point where coaches have had to evolve with it,” Wiley said. “Now, there is so much other stuff with social media, video games. Coaches have had to evolve because we are a little more tolerant and a little more educated on when the human body starts to tell us we need to shut it down and give it a break.”
Social media has also changed the landscape of athletics, adding both pressure and opportunity for student-athletes.
“It’s great for exposure,” senior cross country runner Mallory Sherrer said. “You get to showcase your skills and connect with recruiters.”
However, not everyone sees social media positively.
“It can be exhausting,” sophomore softball catcher Emma Praytor said. “You’re constantly comparing yourself to others. If you’re not posting your workouts or accomplishments, it feels like you’re falling behind.”
Coppell’s academically-driven culture extends onto the field as well.
“The culture is primarily focused on the education aspect,” Macken said. “You have to have the grades to play. It is always books first and balls second. The coaches are really good about giving us resources and time to make sure that we have our studies right and then also helping us out on the court as well.”
Coppell’s strong sports culture is partially due to its smaller district size and single athletics program, which fosters a close-knit and competitive community.
“When you look at our athletics programs, coaches and people around here in this town it has a small town feel as opposed to when you get out to the larger districts like Lewisville,” Wiley said. “A coach from [Denton] Guyer can leave and drive down the road to Braswell and nobody recognizes them. But, if you are anywhere within Coppell ISD’s attendance zone, a coach from here goes out and somebody knows him or recognizes our athletes. That small-town community is huge.”
Coaches and staff emphasize instilling strong values in their athletes, with the goal being to make good people first over stellar athletes.
“You have to realize, you can be an athlete only for so long, and then your body wears out,” said CHS Principal Laura Springer, former Cowgirls basketball coach and college basketball player at Mississippi State. “It will wear your body out. What is your fall back? Do you have great academics to fall back on? What are you going to do? You better have a superb personality that can sell anything in the world or do something if you don’t rely on your academics to be your background.”
“It is not a matter of if you get injured, it is a matter of when,” Carson said.
For athletes, injuries are a common part of their sport. Many athletes fall into the cycle of pushing too hard.
“I had a really bad stress fracture my freshman year,” junior track and field runner Noah Schuller said. “I didn’t realize how bad it was and kept training. I took a one-week break, but it wasn’t enough. By the end of the season, I was out for six months.”
Even with injuries, the competitive nature of sports makes it difficult to stop.
“They push themselves so hard and I give them advice, not to keep playing but they keep practicing, they keep playing at games, even when you can see them, wincing in pain as they’re running,” senior sports medicine student trainer Saanvi Maskara said. “They can’t really help it because they feel like they can’t stop.”
For many, sports becomes an integral part of their identity.
“Sports is a large part of what I like to do,” basketball junior forward Adriana Reijnen said. “It’s hard to imagine not being out there, even when it hurts or I get injured.”
Because of this mindset, medical intervention is often necessary.
“A lot of times even when they are injured and you know it is going to hurt them to keep playing, they still try to keep playing because they don’t want to let their teams, their parents or let themselves down; they are also trying to use their sport to go to college,” Maskara said. “It is really challenging having to tell a player that they can’t play because it is hard to have to be the person to tell them that if they play, their injury will worsen, when they are already so upset.”
Coppell’s sports medicine staff also prioritizes safety.
“That is my job; I don’t care if you’re injured, they won’t play,” Carson said. “Health comes first.”
For developing athletes, intense training can have long-term effects, which is why strength training is incorporated to prevent injuries and build resilience.
Body image is also a challenge in sports, particularly in weight-class-based competitions like wrestling, where athletes feel pressure to maintain a certain weight.
“It can be really tough for some athletes,” said junior Connor Imwold, wrestler and member of the JV football team. “Some athletes cut weight to compete, but I focus on trying to stay healthy and prefer to wrestle in my own weight class.”
For some however, athletics gave them the space to work through their initial struggles.
“When I was younger I felt bigger than a lot of girls and felt really bad about what I was eating,” Praytor said. “Especially in sports, I am not the fastest and other people are really fast. I would get in my head a lot about that and so I wouldn’t eat that much throughout the day. But now I have realized more people have dealt with that, and so I know how to fuel my body enough so I can perform at my peak performance. Coach Witt always preaches you should be eating a good lunch, you should be eating to fuel your body.”
Coppell coaches emphasize proper nutrition and encourage athletes to have a healthier relationship with food.
“I always ask my girls what they ate for lunch,” Witt said. “You can’t perform at your best if you’re not fueling your body right.”
At the end of the day, each athlete must decide for themselves whether the sacrifices are worth it. For Coppell athletes, the price of perfection is high. But for many, the rewards are even higher, giving them access to play at the collegiate level, or simply the feeling of satisfaction.
“I’ve always loved football. It’s always really been a big part of my life, especially during the season,” Shcuy said. “And It took up a lot of time, a lot of energy. I was really tired a lot of the time, physically, but I think it was 100 percent worth the sacrifice, to be able to play the game that I enjoy playing.”
This story was originally published on Coppell Student Media on February 7, 2025.