According to Education Week, almost 60% of high school students play a sport. A huge part of students’ lives is extracurricular activities. So many kids within our school participate in a wide-range of sports, yet other students are unaware that we offer these teams until the 30-second entrance at pep-rally. I had the pleasure to sit down with a group of students all in different sports to find out about the variety of options we have here and what they need from us as a student population.
Max Campo is a junior at Smithtown HS East who has joined the 20-player Varsity Hockey Team this year as a forward, after playing for the JV team his first two years. This team consists of 7 players from SHSE, 10 from SHSW, and 3 from Hauppauge. While getting a good crowd at the bigger games (ex. counties), the other games are normally filled with only parents. A lot of people attending the games affects the players for better or for worse. Campo shared that it was different for each player, but he gets excited, and maybe even better, when he sees a lot of people in the crowd. Max hopes to play one last time with the team senior year, and hopefully we as a student body can give the team the support and encouragement they deserve.
A junior, Sophia Corso, shared her story and experience with the team. She had joined the varsity team in 7th grade, while at Great Hollow Middle School. Corso expressed much love for the team and the sport, golf being a fun activity between her and her dad. However, the nature of golf makes it difficult for there to be spectators since it’s on a wide-open field as opposed to a stadium with stands. Yet Corso describes the magic of golf, as “the enjoyment that you get because it’s an individual sport and you just have time to yourself… it’s nice and relaxing”. She states that it is “also very hard to get good at and people think it’s easy.” If there’s a larger student body population in the crowd, the team will perform better, feeling elated from the support of their peers.
Another sport I was surprised to hear we had at East was golf. A member of the varsity team who uncommonly started in the 7th grade, Dylan Gallub, sat and spoke with me. Dylan has been swimming on the Hauppauge Team since he was around 8 years old. Between this year and last, the team has expanded from just Smithtown East and West to including Hauppauge. The boys team ranges from 20-25 swimmers, including 4 girls who are divers. Gallub states that there is a lot of work to be good at Swim, and the teams work for countless hours to perfect their craft. The swimmers on the team have been decorated in achievements, such as Dylan Gallub, who has won the league and county and has been All-State, to name a few.
Lastly, I sat down with the kickline. Ava Santelli and Ava Siciliano are the team captains and revealed the intensive rehearsal hours for the Kickline ladies. Both girls have been on the varsity team since their freshman year and describe their long journey; they shared how they have both grown since the beginning, despite the ups and downs. The girls agreed that Kickline is heavily involved. Santelli had done the math and revealed that the team practices 14 hours a week. According to Siciliano, the team has 2 ½ two-hour practices after school 4 out of the 5 school days along with 4-hour Saturday practices. They put so much time and effort into their long season to make sure every step of the routine is lined up and perfect. The season is from early August, when preparation for football season comes, until March when they go to nationals. The team is here during all of the breaks in their season, practicing. Santelli stated that they had 4-hour-long practices over February break. The team also has two practices per day in August, 6 hours, for 2 weeks.
I know that after learning about all these sports, I will be making the effort to show up and support our teams. I hope you all will join me in celebrating East pride.