By Chloe Stafford
Update
H. H. Dow HS
DHS’s sporting politics
Whenever I get into a conversation with a student-athlete about sports, I feel like I’m engaging in a competition. When did it become such a big deal who plays a sport and how successful they’ve been at it? It seems almost second nature to have to prove that you’re “worthy” enough to call yourself an athlete, especially here at DHS.
Having never gone to another high school, I can’t exactly say from personal experience that it’s different anywhere else, but I’ve heard enough to infer that the sports politics at DHS are somewhat unique. It seems to be all about what sport you do, what team you’re on, and how advanced you are. It makes sense that sports are a big part of our lives, but making them such a defining characteristic of who we are seems to be kind of extreme.
Maybe this importance is founded on our childhood and how vital sports were to our parents. When I’m at any sporting game or meet, I find that it’s usually the parents yelling at a referee or a player on the other team, no matter how young they are. Not only are children exposed to this sports pressure from their own parents, but now also other children’s parents too. I know that this intense attitude stems from their love for their children, but it may very well be creating the connotation that a sporting event is do or die.
For me, sports are such a huge part of my life that when I was facing a severe injury, I was worried I would lose that piece of who I was. From my perspective, this attitude
is amplified in our school. “If you don’t play a sport, who are you?” is something I remember hearing my peers say when the announcements told us about the scores from the previous day. Maybe we think this way because internally, we’re thinking, “If I don’t play a sport, who am I?”
The thought of losing something that is so influential is scary, so maybe we put it on such a high pedestal for others because of how important athletics are to us. And maybe we like it that way. Having goals and striving for something gives people a purpose, as does having something that is a constant every single day. This connection makes it hard to imagine our lives without the sport, our teammates, and our goals. I can’t decide whether or not this is a bad thing, or a bad mindset to have about sports. Is it okay to put so much importance on something that could be gone in an instant? Or does that make the experiences that are had while participating even better?
On the one hand, it’s important to have things that make life exciting, and make it worth it. On the other, should a sport play such a huge role in our identity and how we see ourselves? Even further, I step back and wonder if this is even a DHS culture question, or simply a human nature question.
Although sports vary in importance depending on where
you travel, this core question can be applied to pretty much any area. Drama, choir, academics, band, art, videography, any facet of interest is a huge part of someone’s life. To what extent is holding any passion to an extremely high importance healthy?
All I can say is that observing the general response to athletic prowess at DHS was an eye opening experience, seeing that athletes are held in a much higher regard than other students. Honestly, this is something that I think we’ve all just accepted, knowing that this is simply how it works at DHS. And I don’t know if there’s any way to make the stigma around sports and success any different, or if it’s a DHS tradition that will carry on forever.
Move Fall sports to Spring
The most memorable part of any sports season should not be uncertainty. It’ll be hard to remember the beginning of the 2020 fall season as anything but just that: uncertain. Sports are a huge part of high school, whether you just play for fun, you want some extracurriculars, or you are trying to compete in college. Each season is unique, and no matter what happens, you typically only get four chances. This year, everything we thought we knew about this season was slashed. Football was up in the air, meaning pom and marching band were thrown, volleyball and swim were struggling to find alternatives to indoor practices, and soccer took a hit to their game schedule.
Student-athletes take on a lot of stress regardless of outside factors; spending copious amounts of time participating in practices and games only to head home to spend more time on classwork and studying. How does throwing immense and sudden changes, as well as uncertain schedules into their lives help them? In so many cases, the amount of advance notice athletes received about changes or decisions was basically zero, and many were stuck waiting around to hear any new information. Although I can understand and appreciate the important and timely decisions that needed to be made in these past months, pushing all fall sports to the spring would have made the most sense.
Sports, for me, have never been a main stressor/source of frustration, and I liked it that way. I liked knowing what was going to happen when I walked into a practice or a meet, and I’ve found that this feeling transcends many athletes that participate in fall sports. Although it may not feel this way for everyone, the mental health toll I have seen these changes take on the student- athletes in my life is immense. Not only is it difficult to balance the added stress, a new question has entered the equation this year. The difference in rules and regulations mandating sports, even just in Michigan, makes it hard to feel like competitions are fair. Walking into a game knowing that the opposing team has spent countless hours more than you have over weeks, or even months, in a pool, in a weight room, or on a field, is a daunting feeling. How do you measure who’s the best in the district, the league, or the state under these pretenses? This might not be the most important part of any season, however, it’s a motivating factor that keeps teams going during the low points of the year. Without this aspect, without being able to strive for something bigger than yourself, self motivation is the only thing to look to when the going gets hard.
The most tiresome question to ponder might be “what if?” and it’s the one I’ve found myself thinking about the most during the ups and downs this season has carried with it. I don’t want to look back on my junior season and wonder what it could have looked like if things were different, and if different decisions would have been made. Although this may be something I have to wait to know for sure, it’s a consequence that has been on my mind. Maybe it helps to think that even if the situation isn’t ideal, at least we’re all going through the same thing, at the same time.
There isn’t really a way to prepare for a time like this, and everything that it will affect. All things considered, I know everyone is just doing the best that they can, and I can’t really ask for more. May it have sucked to have to wait a few months to be able to compete? Maybe. But, at the very least, it might have felt more fair, and certainly more normal.