中高一貫校に通う中2の長男、2学期の期末テスト結果が出揃いました。
うちの高校のサッカー部は、県大会でベスト4前後、県下3番手あたりにつける本格的な強豪。高校生たちの練習や試合を見ていると、スピード感もフィジカルもまるで別物で、高校に上がれば間違いなく「サッカー漬け」の毎日が待っています。
そんな未来がすぐそこに見えているなか、部活と並行して臨んだ今回の期末テスト。推移としてはこんな結果になりました。
中2・1学期期末：11位
中2・2学期期末：6位 （※5教科単体だと本人談で4位くらい）
高校受験がない中高一貫校だからこそ、授業の進度は速く、周りのレベルもそれなりに高い環境です。その中で順位を落とすことなく、11位から一桁台の6位へとしっかりステップアップ。
長男が掲げている将来の目標は、筑波大学の蹴球部に入ること。
大学サッカーのトップレベルでありながら、確固たる学力も求められる最難関の文武両道ルートです。
もし高校に上がり、県3番手クラスの強豪チームで本気でレギュラーを狙うとなれば、朝から晩までボールを追いかけ、平日はヘトヘト、週末は遠征という生活になるのは目に見えています。その過酷な日々のなかで、高校から急に勉強のアクセルを踏み込むのは現実的にかなり厳しい。
だからこそ、今の「中高一貫の中学時代」にどれだけ基礎体力をつけ、学力の貯金（アドバンテージ）を作っておけるかが勝負の分かれ目になります。高校の先取りに入っても慌てない地力と、「練習で疲れていても机に向かうリズム」を今作れているかどうか。
The second-term final exam results are in for my eldest son, who is an eighth grader at an integrated junior and senior high school.
Our high school's soccer team is a serious powerhouse—regularly reaching the semifinals and ranking around third in the prefecture. Watching the high schoolers practice and compete, their speed and physicality are on a completely different level. Once he moves up to the high school, his life will undoubtedly revolve entirely around soccer.
With that future right around the corner, he took on this round of finals while balancing team practices. Here is how his rankings have progressed:
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8th Grade, 1st Term Finals: 11th
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8th Grade, 2nd Term Finals: 6th (According to him, around 4th in the five core academic subjects)
Because it’s an integrated six-year school with no high school entrance exam to worry about, the curriculum moves fast, and the level of the students around him is naturally quite competitive. In that environment, he didn't just hold his ground—he climbed from 11th into the single digits at 6th.
His long-term goal is to join the soccer team at the University of Tsukuba.
It’s the pinnacle of college soccer, yet getting in demands serious academic chops—making it one of the toughest routes for truly balancing sports and academics.
If he moves up to the high school and genuinely fights for a spot in the starting lineup of a top-three team in the prefecture, it’s obvious what life will look like: chasing the ball from morning till night, coming home completely exhausted on weekdays, and traveling for away matches on weekends. Suddenly hitting the gas on academics from that point onward would be an uphill battle.
That is why building academic stamina and banking a strong head start right now—during these junior high years—is going to make all the difference. It all comes down to whether he can build the fundamental strength to handle advanced high school material without panicking, and establish a habit of sitting down at his desk even when physically worn out from practice.