Julia Rosete: Freshman finds fun in new sport

Juggling time between hitting birdies back and forth and practicing melodies, freshman Julia Rosete has a lot on her hands.

There’s not much time in my day to do everything I need to do,” but somehow she finds a way to practice her instruments and finish her homework.

Rosete thought about joining the badminton team before the beginning of the school year, but she really couldn’t picture herself on the team. It took some convincing from some of her friends on the team before she decided to join. “It was a lot more than I ever thought, but its a lot of fun,” she said.

However, the fun is sometimes put to halt due to the pain in Rosete’s wrist. She recently hurt it either by holding her racket wrong or she is just not used to using her wrist so much yet. She wears a brace around her wrist, but it can sometimes get in the way.

“It’s like a constant reminder to get better,” she said.

She can’t wear the brace when she practices so when she plays the pain starts to get worse. “The pain will go from my wrist to several places in my hand,” Rosete said.

It even affects how she plays the cello and piano. She isn’t able to hold her bow in the correct position and the bulkiness of the brace sometimes makes her press the wrong keys.

Even though her wrist causes problems, this isn’t what she finds the most difficult. Its the pressure. She feels as if one of the coaches or one of the varsity players is watching her. “It’s hard to live up to the legacy that the JV girl’s team has had for the past decade or so,” she said. She is also stressed about losing the team’s senior players and moving up to fill their positions.

To escape from the stress of the game, the freshman tries to relax on the weekends as much as she can by listening to music and talking to friends. Rosete said that music though was her biggest escape.

“It allows me to almost be in a different world, away from all the things in my life. I can read the notes on the page, and my mind just goes somewhere else,” she said. She had her first experience with the cello in seventh grade and now is playing in the school orchestra. She also plays the piano in the school’s jazz band.

Despite the stress and the struggle of balancing school, sports, and music, Rosete said, “It’s one of those things you have to like. If you don’t then there’s not much point.”