Community Student, or Skyline Athlete?
It’s all about timing for Community High Sophomores Jenni Clancy and Phoenix Patterson. They always having to rush from Community all the way to Skyline after school for Volleyball practice, barely making it on time because of Forum. It’s difficult for Skyline students and coaches to understand the concept of Community’s schedule. The athletic schedules only revolving around the students that go to Skyline, leaving all of the Community athletes to figure it out for themselves.
The new year means a new season, new teammates, new coaching staff, and new expectations for student athletes. The new standard for Skyline athletes is that you must be getting a 2.0 to stay eligible. Jenni Clancy has a problem with the fact that Skyline doesn’t include Community students in their expectations. Clancy says “We’re good enough to be on the team, so they should make exceptions for some things [like missing practice]. It’s not fair that they don’t expect the same from us, because there are a lot of people on our team from Community.” Phoenix Patterson adds that it does bother her, “I mean, I do my stuff and I get my things turned in, but I want to be treated the same way. If I were failing, or if someone on the team was failing, I feel like they should have the same punishment no matter what school they go to”
Keeping sports and academics separate is important for some Community students. Patterson thinks that one of Community’s best qualities is that she can keep her school life and her athletic life separate. She says “I don’t enjoy the traveling part of [getting over to Skyline], I wish there was an easier way to get to and from Skyline, but the fact that Community doesn’t have a sports program makes it so its more about the academics, so it separates the two and makes it easier”.
Luckily, both sophomores are good at managing their time, but the fact that the Skyline athletic director based their schedule only on Skyline students can be sort of overwhelming, considering the amount of work that Community students get on their own. Also, there is a large amount of time that has to be put aside for tournaments, and other sports related things that take place on the weekend. “Sports don’t really get in the way intentionally, we have had long tournaments when getting all of our homework done is a problem, but we always manage to get it done. Having four people from Community helps, because we can all do our homework together for the classes that we all have together,” says Patterson.
Sports are a huge time commitment, for any school, not just Skyline. Community Athletes have it harder in the fact that they’re not full time students at one of the main high schools. Sports are also a time commitment for regular students, but sometimes the adults and coaches have to realize that they are working with other kids. Community students shouldn’t have to pick between being a student or an athlete, it should be easy to do both.
