It’s the middle of fourth period, and everyone is doing their work as usual. One student packs up, says bye to the teacher and leaves to go prepare for a game later in the afternoon, while the rest of class stays and does work.
Athletes at Northwood leave early from school often to attend games, matches and competitions away from home. Nearly every team at Northwood has had to leave school early to go to competitions long distances away. Northwood athletes can miss from five minutes to the whole second half of the school day and up to three days of the school week depending on what the event is and where the event is being held. Distances of conference opponents from Northwood range from 17 to 70 miles.
This upsets a few Northwood teachers and even students, and Northwood girls’ basketball coach and athletic director Cameron Vernon believes student-athletes should not be able to leave unless they need to.
“We don’t want athletes to leave, unless there is no other choice but to leave,” Vernon said. “General rule of thumb, I think, is for all coaches to arrive at the opposing team’s site no later than an hour before game time. That gives us plenty of time to get dressed, use the restroom, grab something to eat, and get out and get stretched and get into our pregame routine before the game starts.”
Science teacher Victoria Raymond is not a fan of anyone missing class time.
“I don’t like any student leaving from my instructional time, because I’ve crafted that time,” Raymond said. “I’m delivering instruction in an energetic and coherent manner, and to me, you lose that opportunity for that interaction and my instruction if you are not in front of me.”
Raymond also believes it is a disadvantage to the student-athlete.
“I want those people in my class, so I can teach them,” Raymond said. “And for a lot of folks, when they are not there for me to instruct, then they basically have to teach themselves the material.”
Vernon would like for the athletes to be in class, but the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s (NCHSAA) scheduling of state competitions makes it difficult for some athletes to attend class.
“Some events that the NCHSAA put on are during the school day,” Vernon said. “State championship wrestling starts at 10 or 11 o’clock in the morning. With the golf championships, you’re talking about 18 holes with all those kids playing. It starts early in the morning, and it’s on a school day. There’s not really anything we can do from an athletic director’s standpoint. That is something the NCHSAA sets up and I don’t even know if there’s a better solution to that problem.”
Sophomore Zachary Bernstein is on the the boys’ golf team, and doesn’t find leaving early as a problem.
“I like leaving early, because it gets me out of classes I don’t want to be in,” Bernstein said. “It makes it difficult to catch up on work, but I don’t mind.”
Meanwhile, some athletes, including varsity soccer player Hannah Patterson, believe they don’t leave early enough.
“Leaving later can sometimes affect our play,” Patterson said. “We leave really late and we get there five minutes before the game, so no one is ever ready to play.”
Vernon responded by saying it is not his fault, but the coach’s.
“The coaches will request a time, and if the athletic directors feel that it is an appropriate time, we will grant that request,” Vernon said. “You have to remember both of our soccer team’s coaches are not school employees, so their work schedule might be an effect of that. They might not be able to leave at 2:30 to get to the game. I think you’ve got to take into consideration those coaches off campus and their work schedules.”
Vernon also commented on why some teams get to eat before games and others don’t.
“Depends on game time and the distance,” Vernon said. “For instance, varsity baseball plays night games at 7 o’clock. So if the team has to leave school early and they don’t stop to eat, they are going to be eating at 10 or 11 o’clock at night.”
One anonymous student said that athletes should not be able to leave at all.
“I don’t think it’s fair for the athletes to leave early,” he said. “I’m in class doing all of this work, bored out of my mind, while they get to leave. They are going to have fun on the bus, and that is fun I can’t have because I’m not an athlete.”
Despite all the opinions and arguments, Vernon finds it difficult to choose a side.
“I think from the point of view of the ‘average student,’ it’s not fair,” Vernon said. “They are being punished. But at the same time, why should we punish the student athlete for playing a sport and not allow them to go to an event? I don’t think there is a right answer on all of this.”
– By Jeffrey Marcin
