Excitement in the air on a crisp Thursday as everyone gets eager for the volleyball game that night. Varsity is playing one of their biggest competitors while the freshmen don’t even get to have a game. Over the past couple of years, the WaMaC has been struggling to find teams for JV or freshmen to play. After Covid, surrounding schools have been having a decrease of students participating in activities, which can make it very hard for the high school to find schools to play against.

     Although there are many downsides of having a lot of students going out for an extracurricular, there can be some positives as well. Last year, there were about 45 girls that went out for soccer. Erik Trilk, head girls soccer coach, said, “From a team standpoint we will always have people that are in multiple activities, so some kids will miss, which means that we will have more people that can cover.” At the high school, there are many students who are in multiple activities, and events for those extracurriculars can overlap. With having a lot of players in multiple positions, this can help the team cover when one of the players is missing. Another positive is sports get to play more competitive teams. Since there are not as many schools in the JV WaMaC, multiple sports have to play 5A schools. Kiaya Claypool, freshman, said, “I feel like it makes the competition better and makes my team better when playing 5A schools.” Although it can be mentally challenging playing larger teams, it can improve every skill in multiple ways. With the exception of these positives, there also can be opposing effects.

     One downside can be the limit of games due to there not being teams to play. Girls soccer struggles with finding enough schools to compete against. The JV team played a total of nine games and even had to add some scrimmages to make sure these athletes could keep playing. Trilk said, “Instead of 30 two-minute halves, there are times where we will play only one 30 minute or two 10 minute. So it’s hard for us to try to get everyone in.” Soccer had some players that were new to the game, so they were trying to learn the game over the season. With the limit of time that the team has to play, it can be challenging to get each athlete in. Another negative can be the amount of people in each practice. Freshman girls volleyball has a lot of athletes out in one specific spot, so it can be hard for each player to get time in that spot. Claypool said, “Especially for outside there’s a lot of people that have to go through, so there is a lot of waiting. You might get less repetitions due to more people.” At practice, there can be long lines or many girls would have to sit out and sometimes not even get to play. In addition to sitting out in drills, when scrimmaging, many athletes may have to play a new position or not get the spot they wanted. Claypool said, “Not everybody gets to play the positions they want and might have to play a different position due to a lot of teammates.” This can be mentally draining and can cause negative thoughts about oneself.

     With the high school expanding, the activities will too. While there can be negative and positive ideas to these extracurriculars, all students should at least try to take in their whole high school experience. Trilk said, “Everyone needs to try something new and everyone needs to go out for more sports. The game minutes will come.” Considering everything, every student should try something that interests them because it might surprise them.