Editorial

Trinity Sports Requirement

At Trinity Episcopal School, every enrolled freshman and sophomore must meet the requirement of earning two sports credits per year, and one for upperclassmen. Every student can receive a sports credit through being a part of a fall, winter, or spring sports team, or by lifting during a whole sports season. This requirement helps balance students at Trinity, and it improves our sports teams. Trinity should keep its sports requirements.

As a school, we are strong academically; furthermore, we have a very good art program. With all students participating in sports, our athletic program is enhanced dramatically, and students should be persuaded not just to receive a sports credit, but to participate on a team. Through athletics, all students will be more well-rounded, and a sense of teamwork will emerge from all of us. Also, from the start of the school year, I know from my own personal experiences, that I made a lot of friends from playing football and basketball, and I am still close with many of them.

I understand that there are a decent amount of students that have absolutely zero interest in athletic activity; however, we have a perfect weight room for students not interested in playing on a team, to workout and earn a sports credit. No matter what anyone says, it is the right thing for your body and health to workout at least a couple of times a week.

Each and every year, Trinity, along with every other school, has hundreds of students apply to it. From former experience, when a school flat out says that you should come here because we have amazing academics, that is very boring (there are schools who I have visited that have done this.) Strong athletics can prove as an extremely strong selling point to bring in a well-rounded community of students every year; for example, our strong basketball team, I am aware of, has brought basketball players to our school. When we grow on success, more students from each sport will want to attend our school, enabling each coach to have a deep team. Following a growth of success in a variety of sports, the community will come together, and it will be fun for students to gather for every sports teams’ games.

What kind of school do we want to be? That, I cannot answer, but I would much rather be a part of a strong academic and athletic program, engaging all students to be a part of a strong student body and a student athlete. Of course, academics should still be stressed, but student athlete sounds better than student, in my opinion. The best way to jump start programs like football, that struggled this year, is to build the program with many underclassmen who love the game. It’s a process that every sport needs, and to the main point, it can only happen if students are required to play sports. Everyone needs to contribute to a team one way or another, or just lift, of course.

Why would I write this if there’s no change needed to be made? There are students, not many, that have told me they do not like the sports requirement, which is perfectly fine. In my opinion, they should put full focus to a team and a sport that they would enjoy, or leave the school. A sports requirement will help build the Trinity community, athletic program, and will attract a more diverse student body.