Many athletes feel left out or out of place when it comes to doing sports. In most high schools there are three teams to every sport. The students have the C team, which is mostly freshman. Then they have the JV and Varsity which can be freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The athletes get placed on a certain team based on skill, effort, attitude,and their ability to be coached. When put on these teams the students have a chance to prove themselves that they are either good or better than others. Whatever grade the student is in there is a certain part of the totem pole that they are on. Seniors tend to let their grade determine how things are run. Relationships with teammates is sometimes a struggle for people on the team. There are times where the teams do separate things from the other teams, such as bowling or sleepovers, and it shouldn’t be like that. “I found myself to get a lot closer with the upperclassmen, but I have noticed there is a big separation from the freshman class,” said Abigail Wawrzyniak (21). When people join teams they mostly do it for a bonding experience with other people, but thats hard when the teams are so diverse. From freshman Ryan Dirksen’s perspective, “the bonding on the wrestling mat we are a family, but off of it we don’t talk to each other or hangout. We just stick to our friends.” Connecting with your team can be challenging, but to Cole Schumacher (21) it’s a different story, “On the court we communicate and get along. Off the court everyone is nice to each other, we talk, and we’re all good friends,” Schumacher said.

So the big question is Are We One? The importance of being on a team is working together and unity, no matter the grade. The leaders of the team should be inspiring and encouraging the younger athletes to do better and work harder. But when the teams are separated for practices or extracurricular activities, then tend to lose the bonding between the older and younger peers. Sports is one of the things kids look forward to in high school so they can get to know other people with the same interests besides the people in their grades, but being separate from everyone, many students lose the opportunity to get to know other people.