By Wyatt Boyle
Walking through the lunch room or entering school, athletics can be seen almost everywhere and there’s no shortage of cross country kids in short shorts or seven-foot tall basketball players roaming the halls. Student athletes have been around since the dinosaur ages, and somethings just never change.
When it’s fall, the shirtless runners are constantly seen passing out in the heat. In the winter, they show up to school every day in their sweats and in both seasons are constantly going in and out of class refilling their water bottles. In the halls, runners are always distinguished by how thin they are, tired from their morning workouts and bagels coach Tondryk gives out.
Carrying around a bag with clothes in it is a universal thing in athletics, but there are never more bags left in third period than on gameday. In football season, the halls are filled with players in their jerseys, cheer kids screaming greetings to each other, and dancers in their red shirts telling everyone dance is the best sport. All day there’s a very “pro-football” atmosphere throughout the school, as everyone is posting on their social media accounts during class to come see them at the game. Basketball games are a similar scene, except everyone is seen dabbing up the Boom Squad at lunch instead of the football team.
Around the school, students might sometimes see blonde girls they don’t recognize. If they’re wearing an unrecognizable uniform and are watching the football players in the gym after school, they’re probably a volleyball player. Wrestlers are also easily recognized in the halls from their distinct handshakes they’ve made from long hours spent after school at practice. In the halls, hearing things like “Bro, I’m trying to lose five pounds by tomorrow!” is relatively common whenever walking past them.
Now, let’s take a moment of silence for the athletes who go compete and win for our school, but that get no recognition because no one goes out and watches them. On that note, don’t bully the kids wearing polos around the school. They might look weak, but that’s the golf team, and they will fight back. Sorry tennis, soccer and golf, but all everyone sees is that the teams miss school for tournaments. Not that we actually have programs that dominate and destroy other schools. At least the soccer and tennis kids can be seen together after school whenever tennis takes a break and watches the soccer games which is more than swim gets. Swim kids are easily discerned from the rest of the students in the cafeteria from their distinct cries of how hard AP classes, and how tired they are all the time.
In the end, student athletics make the school a more unique and diverse place, and it shows how students of multiple different interests and can get along. Just remember, while everyone might sit at separate tables, it isn’t because the athletic programs all don’t get along.
