As students sprinted to the finish line of this school year, a new policy implemented by Latin’s Athletic Department paved the way for student-athletes to compete in multiple sports during the spring athletics season.
According to an email from Latin’s Athletic Department to the community prior to the spring season, this new policy “will enable Upper School student-athletes to participate in an interscholastic team sport and track and field at the same time.”
Upper School Director of Athletics Katie Johnson said parents and students had expressed interest in changing the school’s policy.
“We had a few parents reach out to the Athletic Department asking about their kids being able to do track and another sport,” she said. “We had it at previous schools. I know Latin hasn’t done it in many, many, many years, but I thought it was worth having a conversation.”
Coach Millie holds trophies. (Ellie Anderson)
After a meeting with all of the coaches, the Athletic Department sent out a form for feedback and an overall vote for the implementation of this policy. A majority of coaches voted “yes” or “maybe,” so the school decided on a trial run for the spring season, Ms. Johnson said.
To have been eligible for participation, sophomores, juniors, or seniors had to complete an application process that included speaking to both coaches and the Upper School Athletic Director.
In addition, students who wanted to take advantage of this new offering were required to attend all of the interscholastic team sport’s practices and games, in addition to three out of the five track and field practices and meets each week.
Sophomore Ramon Cruz was the sole student who ultimately participated in the trial run this season. The policy gave him the opportunity to play baseball and also do throws for the track and field team.
Ramon’s passion for track and field was sparked during his middle school years when he competed as a thrower. “I had only started in eighth grade. So I started around a week before the first meet, and I found a love for it that I never knew I had,” he said.
He was unable to pursue this interest once he entered high school due to the conflicting seasons of baseball and track and field. Despite Ramon wanting to play two spring sports during his freshman year, he was forced to choose just one.
“That was kind of devastating to me, in a sense, because I really enjoyed throwing along with playing baseball,” he said. “I also think that the two sports in themselves help each other, because you throw in both of them.”
Once this policy’s trial run was introduced, Ramon joined the track and field team this year, with approval from his baseball coach, and threw the discus and the shot put.
“[Baseball] Coach [Alex] Russell is incredibly supportive, along with [Track and Field] Coach [Dan] Daly. They both have come to a mutual understanding about my love for the two sports, and they’re not necessarily trying to drive me away from either one,” Ramon said.
While Ramon was able to engage in two sports during the spring season, that was not the case for every athlete at Latin.
Junior Ruby Larsen ran track and field for seven years including in middle school but was unable to continue her commitment to the sport in high school because of her position on the soccer team.
“Given my love for both sports, this has been very hard for me,” she said. “Each year in high school, I have put myself in the uncomfortable position of advocating strongly for the opportunity to play both sports. This year, Katie Johnson was open to the concept and helped advocate for me, so I was really hopeful that I would get the chance to do both.”
For Ruby, scheduling conflicts made participation impossible because of the eligibility requirements.
“Girls soccer and track have practices at the same time, for example, so the requirement to attend five out of five soccer practices and three out of five track practices every week is not humanly possible,” she said.
Although she was hopeful that the new policy would allow her to be a multi-sport athlete, she was disappointed that she could not benefit from the policy.
Ruby said she wished that the trial run would be a step toward Latin “supporting its athletes, families, and coaches the way [she knows] many other high schools [they] compete against do.”
The Athletics Department plans to hear feedback from coaches and take that into account as they plan the future of this policy. Ms Johnson said, “We are going to meet during the summer and finalize and approve the framework.”
She is hopeful that the new policy will help grow Latin’s athletic programs by increasing student participation.
“I want our athletes to enjoy their experience,” she said. “If we can help them do that by allowing our students to [participate in two sports], I am all for it.”
