For most student-athletes, balancing one varsity sport and schoolwork is difficult enough.

But for Bilal Baydoun of Dearborn’s  Fordson, the challenge of competing in three varsity sports was just too enticing to pass up.

The recently-graduated senior played football and basketball, and competed in track and field events for the Tractors. Sometimes, he even did all three on the same day.

“One day during basketball season I had three different practices in three different sports on the same day,” he said.

“I’ll never forget that day because I got home at nine and I was so exhausted.”

It all began in 7th hour with football conditioning and weightlifting, then Baydoun moved on to a 2½ hour basketball practice immediately after, and finished off the day with conditioning for the track and field season that was about a month away.

“That’s when I knew how committed I really was to athletics,” he said.

His unwavering commitment served him well, as Baydoun went on to excel in all three sports in high school.

He was an All-Conference selection and a two-time All-Area selection in track and field as a hurdler (he also threw discus) for starters.

In basketball, he was a starting forward and a team captain whose role was to guard the opposing team’s best player in most games because of his outstanding defensive ability.

And if that wasn’t enough, he also started in football for the Tractors, on both sides of the ball no less as a tight end and defensive end.

His most unique accomplishment out of the three sports was his ability to block punts for the football team. Most special teams player go a whole career without blocking one punt, but Baydoun was able to get 3 ½ blocks in his career. A lot of players get close to blocking punts but flinch when the ball gets near their hands. Baydoun explained why he was able to block punts so well at Fordson.

“It’s kind of unexplored territory but once you do it the first time you get confident you can do it every time,” he said.

“Just my anticipation and length makes me good at blocking punts, just laying out my body and getting my paw on it at the very end.”

Baydoun was no slouch in football and basketball, the two most popular high school sports, but his work in the classroom and in track and field just might be the ticket to a college scholarship.

Northwood University in Midland, Michigan has offered him a scholarship to run track, and Baydoun thinks it’s a strong possibility that he will accept it. The honor student is excited about the prospect of getting a free college education as well as the chance to compete at the next level. He plans on going into business, possibly marketing or accounting, and looks forward to proving himself as a college athlete.

“It’s always been a lifelong dream of mine to be an NCAA,” he said.

“I look forward to the opportunity of having a free education and at the same time competing and I don’t think there’s anything better than that.”

Every top athlete has to have a role model, and Baydoun is no different. He actually has two. His dad Adnan instilled the values of hard work and perseverance to Bilal through his work in social services, Arab Media, and real estate. Michael Jordan was Bilal Baydoun’s hero as a professional athlete because of the fact that he was a winner and an intense competitor.

Baydoun likes to consider himself a competitor too, and while he will miss the camaraderie he experienced in team sports like football and basketball, he is still excited to take his track and field career to the next level.

He began doing track and field as a way to improve himself during the off-seasons of the other two sports, but once he got into it, he was hooked.

“My freshman year I felt would help me excel in my other two sports. I found it to be very competitive as far as beating yourself and your own times. I really started to look forward to track every year since then,” he said.

At the same time, the multi-talented Baydoun doesn’t want to rule out playing other sports at Northwood or whatever other college he ends up at. Even if he has to play more than one of them on the same day.