Editorial written by Feature Editor, Nicole Wittkopp
I, Nicole, run cross country. Thus, after the school day ends at 2:05, I have an entire hour and ten minutes before I need to be on the track for the start of practice. Some days, I decide to drive home and spend a little time catching up with my family and cooling down from the day. In times when I have no job, though, the extra cost of that second run to and from school for the day can get costly in gas money.
So, on the days when I decide not to go back home, I have to have somewhere to go. I chose, one day, the library. Apparently, that was a big mistake. Within minutes of cracking open an SAT prep book to start studying for the math section of October’s SAT (what I considered a studious and time-worthy decision), I heard the librarians grilling my teammates on where their passes were. A drawstring bag or your hair in pre-wrap, set you as a target.
“What sport do you play?” the voice asked student after student.
If the answer was football or cross country, I witnessed kids turned away, told to get a pass from a coach and then come back or stay in their study hall. At least one of these athletes returned pass-less, reporting “My coach wasn’t there.”
“You’re going to have to take that up with student services,” the librarian said.
By now, a lot of time had passed. All around me, the students who WERE NOT involved in sports had a chunk of uninterrupted time to study, read, and work on homework and projects. None of these students were questioned. Meanwhile, my team-mates, many of whom are enrolled in demanding honors, AP, and pre-AP classes, were scouring the halls for a student services director, a coach, or a study hall to make their hour gap of time more productive.
Luckily, no one asked me if I was a part of any sport. I guess I didn’t look the athletic type? I whispered to the girl near me that if the librarians were to ask me, they had better be ready for an argument.
As far as I’m concerned, we athletes are STUDENTS first and foremost and should be allotted the time and resources to assume that role. It’s almost as if by being a part of a student activity, we’ve given up our privilege for student resources. Why does a girl who doesn’t run cross country get to type up a report while a boy who plays football has to sit in a classroom with their coach? There’s no reason for us to be held up by the librarians and told to leave the library, a place that is open to students after school, and can be a great complement to learning.
If I want to spend some time on the computers or studying for my standardized tests, apparently I have to be prepared to jump over hurdles. As an athlete, it seems the librarians assume, I should expect no less.
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