By Brittany Snow

Staff Writer

  Fall. Winter. Spring.

  Many high schools focus on offering an athletic opportunity for their students within these three seasons, by encompassing as many sports possible. Although more choices may enhance rates of participation, decreasing the lengths of other sports seasons takes away from the experience of athletes who are already in season. Schools should not have to take away from other athletes’ experiences and should not look to add more sports to their roster.

  Gabrielino High School offers three to six sports per season. With a variety of athletics, ranging from football to track and field, schools should focus on adding more games for each recreation, rather than focusing on a wider range of selection.

  In New York, high schools experienced cutting down the number of games, meets, and contests to fit their budget starting in 2009, but are now looking to add more sporting events to their schedules for the next school year. According to the Buffalo News, sports with 24 games, such as baseball and softball, were reduced to 20, and sports with 20 games, such as basketball, were reduced to 18.

  “Any time we can give kids more opportunities to participate, we’re gaining momentum,” said Robert Zayas, executive director of the New York State Public High School Athletic association.

  For high school athletes looking to further their career in athletics, in college or professionally, an additional set of games for each sport gives students the opportunities needed to be scouted by colleges for an opportunity of a potential scholarship.

  As stated by USA Today: High School Sports, by scouting, “college coaches get to see how [athletes] react to high-pressure situations and how they represent their community.”

  According to the NCAA, in the 2016-17 school year, a total of 5.5 percent of athletes from sports available at Gabrielino partook in the transition from high school athletics to college athletics.

  By focusing on elongating seasons for sports already apart of the selection, it could add more playing time for each athlete, or even improving their overall statistics, which could better an individuals image as well as their teams image as a whole.

  Administrations could look to add more games or matches to preseason so that students who are new to a sport could become somewhat experienced before going into a league setting. This could ultimately result in more confidence going into a sporting event since athletes may feel unprepared at the start of the season. By having this preparation, statistics as a whole could improve and better records or standings for each team.

  Rather than focusing specifically on adding more sports to their athletics department, school administrations should look towards adding more sporting events. By doing so, they give athletes the opportunity to improve and for those furthering their career, to be noticed by someone who could potentially advance them in their future.