By Sage Riddick
Staff Writer

If you are an athlete, you have probably heard this before or even said it yourself. Why do athletes of the school have to take gym, if they have a sport after school? I have probably said this many times before and so have my parents.

I really do not have an answer for this question. For many reasons it seems like a great idea for athletes to not have to take gym. But for other reasons the idea is easy to say, but difficult to do.

One issue proposed by Dan Twomey, Westford Academy’s Athletic Director, is, “Sometimes your schedules are done well in advance. And you may play a sport [or] you may not play a sport [or] you may change your mind. So that might be a little bit of a challenge.”

Twomey also brought up another good point: there is a curriculum for physical education. The classes are different from a team. In gym you are able to play many uncommon sports that you would not get to do on your team. Gym is “an academic class” as Twomey puts it. One would learn concepts in gym that one might not learn on a team.

For me, the cons of taking physical education outweigh the pros. The fact that a star athlete who is in season could get hurt in gym is a scary thought. The athlete’s team could be going on to the state championships, and the week of the championships, the star of the team could break or sprain something and may not play. The team would suffer greatly. Additionally, if a senior were to be scouted in a game one day and that day in gym the athlete is injured, the athlete could have ruined his or her college athletic career. I would not want to ruin my chance of going college to play a sport because of physical education class.

A transcript and grades are extremely important parts of a student’s college application. Having one and a half hour to two hour practices a day five to six times a week, cuts into a student’s homework time. I know when I have late practices for JV Volleyball I try to get my homework done beforehand and it is difficult. Trying to complete homework before practice is not enough time, and I still do not finish my homework. Then I have to do homework after practice, and sometimes I am up to 11pm doing projects and studying. On game nights it is even worse. If athletes were exempt from gym, athletes could have a study hall, which would allow them time to do a lot of their homework.

I know there is a certain reason for students having to take gym. One of them is because students need to exercise. This does not pertain to athletes because they are already exercising after school, so why the need to take gym? It is also a waste of energy for athletes. What if an athlete were to get competitive in gym? They would waste their energy and then they might not be able to give it their all in the game or practice they have that day. Also some athletes might not try during class because they do not want to waste their energy. Those student athletes who are not trying their best would be poor teammates in gym to those who are trying their best.

Both sides have valid points and perhaps a compromise could be reached. Perhaps if you are on a varsity team, during your season you can have a study hall or an elective. Students here at WA have to take 10 credits of gym, making students have to take 4 terms of gym. One compromise that could be made is coordinating when you have gym and when you play a sport. A student could have gym the term he or she does not a play a sport. This would not help those who play three seasons of sports, but the student could coordinate when she or he has gym during a sport season that is easier for him or her. For example for a sport you have late practice, you could arrange to not have gym that term.