Students take education seriously
As a student athlete at North Point High School, I take exception to the point of view as expressed by TT Thomas’s “Letter to the Editor” on Friday, March 25, to the Maryland Independent. I am currently in my junior year at North Point and have played fall soccer and spring lacrosse for three years.
As a part of the lacrosse team we have a motto which each athlete lives by: “Family, Faith, School, Lacrosse,” meaning that lacrosse is a priority, but it is not the top priority for each student athlete. Each student is required to maintain a GPA of at least a 2.250 without acquiring any F’s. The lacrosse program is not just considered a team, but a family. Each athlete who is a part of this family will not only help other teammates athletically, but academically as well. Each player is responsible for attending all practices and games. If a player cannot attend a practice or game because of a family or academic event, they are excused but will lose playing time in order to allow other players a fair amount of time on the field. Even the “best players” have to abide by these rules and are not excluded from them.
I asked my lacrosse coach why he runs his lacrosse program the way that he does and he responded, “to prevent [a letter] like ‘A Loss for Charles County’ to be written about myself, the team, and the program as a whole.”
Coach Sollohub makes fairness to all athletes a priority. Student athletes at North Point strive to represent themselves and their school in the most positive ways. My experience with the soccer program was similar, in that camaraderie and good sportsmanship was really the main focus of the team. We all aim to win, but concede that there is always a lot to learn, and that winning is not guaranteed.
We, as students at North Point, are not any different than students at other schools either in county or out of county. We all have tryouts, and we all have an equal chance of making the team. It is the athletes who work the hardest that make the team. Although enrolled in an STI program, and currently zoned for another school in the county, I have participated in sports tryouts for six seasons now with no assurances that I would succeed in making the teams.
We know that many people believe that we are a huge talent-rich school who procures the best players from around the county, but the athletic talent pool at any school is truly made up of those who choose to tryout. We may be looked upon as a school that should always win and never lose, but the reality is that every team will not always win, and athletes engaging in any competition will learn to gracefully accept losses as well.