There's no room for scrutiny

Attending any Samo sporting event is undoubtedly a unique experience. You will probably find yourself sitting next to an assortment of parents, curious freshmen and the opposing team’s supporters. In past years, a dilapidated crowd has often represented the skill level of some of our teams, as seen in varsity football. The amount of times the prowess of football is compared to marching band is rather shocking. However, anyone participating in sports is making a major commitment. From the early morning lacrosse and water polo practices to the ten mile afternoon runs of the cross country team, the amount of time put in is a testament to the homework and social time student athletes sacrifice, so we should not condone scrutinizing players based on poor performance.  Josh Threlkeld (’21), is a member of the varsity boys’ water polo team, and was on the CIF champion team last year as well. Despite being on an accomplished team, he doesn’t condone making fun of underperforming teams. “I can’t make fun of them because I don’t play those sports. I can question how I personally play, but to call out an entire team? I don’t think that’s fair,” Threlkeld said. One thing that puts our bad teams into perspective is their victories. On Sept. 27th, the varsity football team crushed Godinez High School 49-0. Even more interesting is despite the fact that our football team has a winning record of 3-2, they are not treated very well on campus. The only reason so many people make fun of them due to their poor performance history in past years.  Joking about teams also extends beyond pure winning and losing. While many people abhor running, that doesn’t discount the effort members of the cross country team put in. Kieran van Vuuren (’21) is a member of the junior varsity boys’ cross country. He manages to balance long practice hours and a heavy course load. “Since running is my 6th period, it is integrated in the school day, but it always runs after school. Then I ice and cool down and take the bus home, so I usually do homework and eat after 5,” van Vuuren said. In addition to cross country, van Vuuren is a member of the Wind Ensemble, in the Chinese program and taking several high-level classes. Essentially, he has an extended day which leaves him physically tired and has to make time for a wide variety of classes. His work ethic and overall effort is extremely high so it would not make sense to scrutinize him and other athletes like him.   The fact of the matter is we cannot relate to some of these players who must balance many responsibilities in their lives with school, extracurriculars and family time. Add being on a sports team and there is no doubt that these students have a lot on their plate, so the mere thought that people could scrutinize these players for poor performance is very mean spirited.  Regardless of the amount of work that every athlete puts in, the bottom line is that making fun of people is mean. Judging athletes because of a bad game is not justified and shouldn’t be tolerated.