Move to Monroe a Mistake
What is the purpose of a school? To most, the answer
to this is obvious: the primary function of a school is to provide
its students with an education and to prepare them to contribute to
society.
Why, then, has “quality of athletic competition” now become
the District’s tantamount concern? Just because Victor recently
moved to the Monroe County League does not mean that we have to follow
suit. There are several reasons that the Canandaigua Athletic program
ought to remain within the Finger Lakes League. Those in favor of the
switch often complain that the competition here in the Finger Lakes
just isn’t tough enough for Canandaigua athletes.
While some
of our sports teams may benefit from harder opponents, this is not
at all true across the board. The boys’ track and field team,
for example, was unable to win a single meet last year against supposedly
inferior competition. If a team with nearly 100 athletes is unable
to prevail in the Finger Lakes, how would tougher competition help
them? Our lacrosse and football teams may dominate the league, but
they aren’t the only sports programs that the district should
consider in making the decision.
The benefits of a switch depend on the core mission of the Athletic
Department. Is their goal to promote merely the elite athletes,
to ignore those on the team who aren’t good enough to “start”?
More skilled competition may well benefit the most athletic players,
but the more average players on each team, those who only are allowed
to set foot on the playing field at practice and when the outcome
of the game is already certain, would end up spending more and
more time
sitting on the bench while their teammates battle it out on the
field.
Save that for the NCAA.
The collective waistlines of America are expanding at a sickening
rate; children and teenagers today spend far too much time in front
of the
television and far too little in motion. Because of this, the first
goal of the Athletic Department should be to involve the greatest
number of students possible. How many people would join a team
where they
have no chance of ever competing? By moving to the Monroe County
league, our teams would not just leave behind Geneva and Newark.
They would
leave behind many of their own athletes.
At a time when many people struggle to make ends meet, the district
also must consider the economics of the issue. Some schools in
the Finger Lakes may be far away, yet on average they are at least
slightly
closer than the schools of Monroe County. Buses are expensive machines
to operate, and by increasing the average distance that sports
teams must travel to compete, the amount that is spent on fuel
will also
increase. This means either less money for scholastic field trips
or higher taxes for District residents.
Travel time to and from a meet is not only an economic issue. The
dual responsibilities of student-athletes must be considered as
well. When
athletes return home late after a game or meet, they don’t
have sufficient time to juggle their obligations as students, and
their
grades begin to suffer.
The Athletic Department’s desire to move to a different league
represents the kind of hubris that we all should strive to avoid falling
prey to. The day that we should move to Monroe County is the day that
we win the league in every single sport – not just the ones
that make headlines. Return
to top
|
Sponsors
 |
