Community High School doesn’t have sports, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have athletes.
Due to the absence of sports, CHS athletes must play for teams at the other Ann Arbor high schools or for local club teams. For example, Elijah Erman plays junior varsity soccer for Pioneer High School, junior Daniel Jacob plays varsity tennis at Huron High School and Diego Artez plays junior varsity football for Huron High School. These athletes must fit into locker rooms with the vast majority of students from other schools, sometimes with almost no one from CHS.
This can be difficult because the players from the other schools have more opportunities to get to know one another outside of sports and more common experiences from going to the same school.
“Sometimes when they talk about something from Pioneer or I talk about something from Community, it doesn’t really click,” Erman said. “It’s different viewpoints and different experiences.”
Despite Community’s school day ending earlier than the other district high schools, it can be hard for students to make it to practices and games because the facilities are not at CHS and there are fewer carpool options. For Jacob, as an upperclassman, this is not an issue, but for underclassmen who can’t drive, like Erman, must rely on buses and carpools, which can require them to leave class early and miss spending time with people at Community or even be late to practice. Some students try to get around this by split enrolling. Both Erman and Aretz split enroll, but they have had different experiences.
“I start at Community, but I end my day at Huron, which means that I don’t have to do anything special to get to my practices and my games,” Aretz said.
Erman, on the other hand, does not have classes with anyone on his team, and his schedule does not end at the school he plays sports for, so transportation is still an issue. For him, split enrolling does not make being an athlete any easier. It can be easy to burn out, but these athletes stick with it and persevere. They don’t quit because being a student athlete at CHS also has its benefits. At CHS, even if no one plays on the same team as you, there are almost always a few people who play the same sport. That common ground can be all it takes to build connections with others.
This does not just apply to school at Community — it applies to locker rooms filled with people who all play the same sport. So even though CHS athletes don’t see many of their teammates during the school day, and it may take longer to get to know them, they still have something in common to bond over.
“We all play soccer, so that helps,” Erman said. “Going to Community doesn’t make that big of a difference. We all get along.”
Jacob also has a strong relationship with his teammates. He is an upcoming leader on his team.
“We have a lot of younger kids on the team, so I’m kind of stepping up as a leader,” Jacob said.
So while it can be difficult to fit in, especially early in the season before getting to know their teammates, athletes at CHS find a way. They don’t let the lack of sports at Community stop them from playing, a testament that playing high school sports while at CHS is worth it to them.
