While there are 23 sports in the Tahoma School District, only a few play during fall that we have here in Tahoma. Why are sports such a big deal in Tahoma? Which fall sports do you follow or even coach? What resources are available for student athletes to help them succeed in academics? What do sports do in the school environment and spirit we see here in Tahoma? Mr Hansen, the Tahoma High School Athletic Director who has been here at THS for three years straight will be able to answer those questions.
“Which fall sports do you follow or even coach?” Mr.Hansen explained that, meanwhile he doesn’t truly coach any sports in Tahoma because he believes that would count as favoritism, as he states, “like our former athletic director coached the football team, leading many to think that having the athletic director as the coach can lead to some favoritism, making that the case I found that it really helps to not be coach when you’re the athletic director.” This is why he prefers not to coach because he does not want many people to assume that he is putting favoritism to the sport he is coaching when that is in fact not the case. “In terms of the sports that I follow, well I follow all of them. They are all equally important, all 23 of them, but I think that the one that deserves the most attention from me is football.” he says, “Football just because of the fair number of people that we have on our team, there’s 167 people on our football team at Tahoma. We had to add coaches this year because it’s a no-cut sport. And we have two JV teams that are squealing and just all that stuff. That demands probably the most attention.” To think of what he means, he follows all the sports, but he follows football the most, just due to how much work needs to be put into a high school-level football team.
“What resources are available for student athletes to help them succeed in academics?” Hansen answered this question with a lot more detail about resources that all students should use, no matter whether they are in a sport or not. “So, most of our students don’t need additional support, but the ones that obviously do, power hour is a great resource. We also have after-school tutoring and the future ready center also includes peer tutoring, that I don’t know if athletes have taken advantage of. Any student has the opportunity to go and talk to their teachers during power hour, but we mandate it for those of our athletes to have three 30-minute study lessons with the teacher during the week. They can still practice, but they can’t suit up and play in any big games or matches. So we set the standards that you have to have a 2.0 with no F’s to still play in games and matches.” In short, if you’re an athlete and are failing a class or even have lower than a 2.0 then you would be put on record and your coach would decide if you should be off or wait to see what the athletic director thinks.
What do sports do in the school environment and spirit we see here at Tahoma? This was a big part of the interview leading to Hansen saying “homecoming a couple of weeks ago, our student section was nuts. Granted that stadium was designed from when we were 3A. But we were overflowing. And just how cool that was. Our former principal used to say that Tahoma is the show. We are one high school town. It’s Maple Valley Friday night. Where are you going? You’re going to the football game. There’s no other big place to go when there’s a football game. Friday night, let’s do it.” A deeper way to think of this would be that the school is the roots of our tree, the sports and clubs and everything that happens here at Tahoma are the branches and leaves, making the students the trunk being the whole support of the school and what we have made it out to be.
While there are some big details about Mr. Hansen’s points and how he sees things from his spot as our athletic director, there is always that question of what about a player. How do they see things? How do they feel sports contribute to school experiences? What sport do they play, and how did they get started with that sport in the first place? What role do they think teamwork plays in everyday life? To answer those questions, the second interviewer is Madison Wolfe.
How do they feel sports contribute to school experiences? “I believe it brings people together, especially from different groups” Wolf answered in a straight to the point but truthful way of saying things. Meaning that some people only make friends with those in the sports that they play or even with the other teams within Tahoma.
What sport do they play, and how did they get started with that sport in the first place? Wolfe states that they play in the women’s golf team here at Tahoma. I got into it around 2 years ago playing a little bit of Frisbee golf when I wondered what real golf would be like. So I tried it and I loved it. Although I am sadly in the practice squad, according to coach Debolt, I am improving dramatically.
What role does Wolfe think teamwork plays in everyday life? “Teamwork plays a lot in everyday life, that’s how buildings are being built, even our clothes, because someone has to be out there making the designs while someone else goes off to make them, while another is doing something else. I just think that it’s a part of our everyday life to the point where we don’t even see it sometimes.” Think of it as how when ants are all working together to make their homes and nests, that’s all teamwork. If no ants used teamwork, then the ants would have no place to live together, all in one and predators would find them easily.
