Golf tournaments typically take place in the morning while matches tend to take place in the early afternoon due to them taking a decent amount of time and requiring daylight to be able to play. The golf team at CHS misses a lot of school for their tournaments and matches, with dismissals frequently starting around 12:00. Sometimes, the team doesn't attend school the entire day. Overall the CHS golf team reports mostly positive outlooks on their dismissals.
“I enjoy being able to miss school for golf, because I get to skip my classes to be able to play a sport that I love and I’m able to have fun instead of just sitting around in a classroom all day,” junior Shawn Potter said.
While most of the players enjoy the chance to leave the classroom and be able to play the course, there is also responsibility that comes with that, such as making up their work outside of class.
“We miss like a couple days of school per week, and we have a few all-day tournaments where we miss the whole day. when I miss a little bit of school I go and ask my teachers for the work so I can get it done, or I just get it done after the match,” freshman Brayden Rantz said.
Missing so much class for a sport can help teach students responsibility and learning to be able to communicate with teachers. It also teaches student athletes to manage their work so they don’t fall behind.
“Last year — which was my junior year — during pre-calc there was a lot of tests and other work that I missed, which I had to make up,” senior Kevin Scott said “Playing golf instead of being at school really taught me a lesson, to learn independently and not have to rely on the teacher to learn stuff.”
When the golf team plays in tournaments, they are usually 18 holes long. Playing 18 holes takes around 5 hours to play and with the daylight that’s needed it causes them to miss more school. Making up work can also be difficult.
“I prefer the all day tournaments because it's nice to go play a full 18 holes, and usually the courses are better, but I miss more school, so it can be harder to make up the work,” junior Logan Fansler said.
Even though school work can be overwhelming and a lot to handle, athletes still like being able to miss a full day of school, in the past few weeks they have left early about 8 times to be able to play more of the sport they love. Some teachers don't agree with how much school the athletes miss, while others think it’s reasonable and part of the experience.
“For me, the only way to schedule sports and give the kids the sports experience that they're expecting, is to miss school at least a little bit. So as far as the relationship to school, I don't see a problem. As long as kids are staying up on their work and getting stuff turned in. It’s when kids use sports as an excuse to not do their work is where it becomes a problem,” history teacher David Slusser said.
Teachers usually enjoy when students are independent and are able to make up work without relying on a teacher, and CHS staff also agree it is important to be able to leave the classroom to be an athlete.
“Yes, athletics are important. We spend a lot of time sitting down at desks all day. So if a student needs to get out to participate in a team sport. I think that's acceptable,” counselor Tim Mann said.
