For most high school students, sports are a significant aspect of life. Whether they watch, support, or participate in athletics, many events in high school are centered around sports.

However, come junior year, many UC High athletes have a hard time fitting their sport into their strict, inflexible schedule. They often have to give up an academic class or favorite elective to continue participation in their team sport. With all the pressing choices upperclassmen have to make, students shouldn’t have to decide whether to take a class or a sport. Having all athletic team practices after sixth period would resolve this issue, reduce scheduling conflicts, and allow students to take electives and academic classes as well as continue participation in their sports.

The California Department of Education requires all high school students to take two years of physical education in order to graduate (cde.ca.gov). Assuming students pass the fitness gram testing required by the state, they are not required to participate in either physical education or athletics after their sophomore year. Many students do so by choice; after all, sports are a common extracurricular activity enjoyed by many. But, in order for UC High students to participate in a sport, they can only take five courses, for athletics takes up their sixth period. As UC High offers a vast selection of electives, such as BioMed or ArtsTech, students who are committed to their electives but also their sports must give up one to take the other.

If students do not have a sport for each season, then they must resort to taking P.E. during their off-seasons. Many of the students participating in athletics play one or two sports. Because the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) breaks sport competitions into three seasons, while the school year is broken up into two semesters, many kids face difficulty with schedule changes during the school year, according to Osborn. “Fifty percent of my job is dealing with athletics and sixth period P.E. and switches in schedules,” said Osborn. If athletics were after school, students wouldn’t have a problem with their schedules concerning sports. The issue would be completely separate.

So when students are thrown into this unfortunate situation, what do they do? Sophomore Avery Bonner said, “For next year, I still need to take Spanish and I really want to take AP Psychology, meaning it will be very difficult to play hockey.” According to Osborn, “Most will choose their sport. Kids almost always choose their sport over an academic class.” If students are expected to choose their sport over their academic classes, shouldn’t the system be adjusted to allow them to do both? After all, by choosing sports over class, academics suffer unnecessarily.

The alternative of having sports after school has been tried at other schools in the San Diego Unified School District. Since last September, sports teams at La Jolla High have been held after school, according to a message all La Jolla High students received from administration. It stated “participation in after-school athletics will […] be for love of the sport,” and that the cost of having team athletics during sixth period was more than that of having them after school. This alternative benefits juniors and seniors, which is ideal, as the majority of schools’ varsity teams are made up of upperclassmen. In addition, the letter stated “most districts in the county have moved to after-school athletics” (ljhs.sandi.net).

According to the La Jolla High website, at a governance meeting, “Some teachers mentioned that students missing sixth period classes because of away games is not that different than previous years, and for those who miss classes, the same rules apply as to excused absences.” When students have to miss class to travel to away games, such as the Boys Football Team going to El Centro or Girls Volleyball going to Ramona, they will miss class regardless of whether their practices are 55 minutes later.

It’s understandable for both students and faculty to be hesitant to changing the timing, schedule, and routine of athletics. However, having all sports teams start their practices after school would eliminate the sacrifice of choosing either a sport or a class, allowing students to participate in more academic classes and team sports without conflict.