Every student is required to complete two full years of P.E. in order to graduate. However, many students don’t like taking these classes. There are some ways to get out of this though, such as taking four years of marching band, or taking a P.E. class aligned with a sport, but what about the athletes who don’t have the privilege of taking a P.E. class of their sport?
“If we had an extra hour as a P.E. period for Cross Country or Track, I think it would make a big difference and improve our athletics at Mission Hills,” said freshman Dahlia Valencia.
Valencia does both Cross Country and Track and Field, and sometimes she struggles mentally and physically while attempting to train for her meets. However, if she had a P.E. class which she could use as time to train, she says she would get to go home earlier and be able to take care of her needs quicker.
“Marching Band practice runs late so often I choose to sleep over work,” said freshman Kamryn Ribbons.
All sports are physically and mentally demanding, which is not good for the developing brain of a student athlete. Ribbons often struggles with balancing band and school, and although she loves doing her sport, she wishes it wasn’t as demanding of her.
“You have to be in peak physical shape to run,” said freshman Macy Green.
Athletes on Track and Field and Cross Country, such as Green, are constantly training and running around 50 miles each week, yet these athletes are being disregarded as inferior to other sports with P.E. classes, because they don’t get their own P.E. class, unlike football, baseball, soccer, etc. But in actuality, all athletes are working equally as hard as each other. Clearly, all sports athletes are putting in a lot of their time and effort to accomplish their personal end goal, so all student athletes deserve recognition for what they dedicate their time to.
“It takes a lot of effort,” said Valencia, “really I’m thinking about cross country and track a lot of my time and I don’t often think so much about school work, because it’s it’s just a really hard balance to find, but I think it’s doable we just really should have a P.E. class for it.”
