While CESJDS offers a lot of popular sports like basketball and tennis, offering a wider variety of sports would allow more students to participate in extracurricular activities. As a result, students would have the chance to do an activity that pertains to their specific skill set and widen the JDS circle by meeting athletes from different schools.
At a school with nine classes and a rigorous schedule, it is important for JDS students to exercise as a way to relax. Having more opportunities for students to be involved in sports is a great way to encourage students to try new things and take breaks from intense academic studies.
In addition to being able to relax by participating in a fun activity, an article from the University of Missouri says that being on a sports team teaches you how to build teamwork and effectively communicate to solve problems.
While there are many benefits to the team sports that JDS offers, sports like golf and fencing that are more individual would allow students to take on more responsibility than they do on the team sports that JDS offers. Even though the athletes would still meet with coaches, playing an individual sport means that students have to be more attentive to their schedule and they will also learn to advocate for themselves.
There are also many students at JDS who are not able to play sports outside of school due to extra expenses or long commutes. If JDS offered more options, it would make these sports more accessible to students who are interested in pursuing them.
Along with being one of the most popular sports in Maryland, Athletic Director Becky Silberman said that lacrosse is one of the most asked sports to be offered at JDS. The sport offers many opportunities for students to practice leadership, social and physical skills. Offering more sports like lacrosse that are commonly played in this area can help students not just to strengthen their relationship with JDS athletes, but also with athletes from other schools.
Even if the sport is not offered in the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference, students would be able to form more relationships with athletes from an even wider circle of schools that do offer those sports.
Taking the initiative to start a sport teaches students to be better advocates for themselves and their interests. In the past, Silberman said that students have directly approached her about JDS offering another sport.
A key factor in whether JDS adds another sport is interest, as it is important that there will be people who will sign up for the sport if it is offered, and Silberman also said it is important to look at if JDS has the physical capacity to add another sport.
“Ultimate frisbee for example and lacrosse; its really hard because we only have so much field space,” Silberman said. “So girls lacrosse, if we did it in the spring, is competing with [varsity] softball, [middle school] softball, [varsity] baseball, [middle school] baseball. And also if we are looking at numbers, its taking girls away from softball which already is kind of low in numbers.”
Not only is field space a determining aspect of offering a new sport at JDS, but Silberman said you also have to find a coach and see if it is offered in the league or if the sport could be played in a “club capacity.”
“When the league doesn’t offer it like swimming we offered it a few years ago and we were one of the first schools to add it and now we have four or five schools in the league with it,” Silberman said. “One school kind of has to make the move and the league adds it.”
If any student wishes to start a sport at JDS that they are interested in, Silberman said it is important to first talk to her and make sure that it is even logistically possible to have the sport at JDS.
It is important for JDS to make the first step in offering a wider variety of sports so that the PVAC can add the sport and then other schools will also offer the sport. For golf or lacrosse, even if there is no more space in the gym or at the fields on campus, JDS could still establish the sport at the school but practice somewhere else and compete somewhere else. If our school decides to take initiative, students will be given opportunities to explore activities that they are interested in pursuing.
