UIL
creates new difficulties for Jesuit on the field and in the
classroom
By Johnathon
Schubert
Magis staff writer
Jesuit
has just entered the UIL, and in nearly every sport we’re
up against a level of competition like nothing we’ve
ever faced before. While some are relishing this new opportunity
to compete with the best, others are cringing at what they
see as the beginning of an inevitable losing streak.
Head Wrestling Coach John Banas thinks entering the UIL is
“positive and exciting for the school in general.”
It “legitimizes our programs” by making their
victories more significant.
“When Justin Casino, Mike Brown, and Peter Van Niewenhuise
say they’re District Champions in wrestling, everyone
knows what that means. It’s a lot different than just
saying they placed at Prep State.” But those bragging
rights don’t come cheap.
“We’re in the second toughest 5A district in the
State, and our numbers say we’re 4A.” Our public
school competitors also have an in-school athletic period,
giving them an hour more practice time than us each day.
But Coach Banas has great expectations for Jesuit in the UIL.
“All our programs have above average coaching, and in
general we just have a better type of kid. Being in the UIL
will just make us set higher goals, and our kids are more
willing to work hard and compete at that level than a lot
of public school kids.”
Also, the new ‘Zero-Period’ practices before school
help to make up for our lack of a daily athletic period, and
provide more “accountability and seriousness”
than the old 8th period practices. Reactions to Jesuit’s
move to the UIL vary widely between activities.
While anonymous band and swimming members anticipated that
“we’ll get our butts kicked” in the UIL,
Matt McGeehan of the track team says, “We’ll do
alright, since we’ve been going against 5A schools anyway.”
Sam Seckel of the Football team thinks Jesuit can “get
a winning record, maybe even get to the playoffs.”
Bill Sommers states the obvious. “Wrestling is going
to be the best sport on campus. We’ve got the only district
champions and the most regional placers and state qualifiers.”
Sam says the “players are more committed now that we
have something to work towards, instead of just the DJ game
at the end of the year.”
Despite all the excitement and optimism about the upcoming
UIL seasons, the new ‘No Pass, No Play’ ineligibility
rules are universally disliked. With our old ineligibility
requirements, a player could fail one class and still play,
as long as he maintained a certain GPA, but now, a single
F makes you ineligible.
Coach Banas reasonably says, “The old policy was much
more fair. Everyone’s better in some classes than others.
The old system let a kid with straight A’s and 1 F keep
playing, while the new system makes him ineligible, but lets
someone with straight D’s keep playing. Long term, the
new system makes kids scared to take hard courses and challenge
themselves.”
While joining the UIL will push our athletes to new levels
of achievement, it will also force many students to be much
more grade conscious than ever before.
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