Willow Glen Athletics are made up of successful, hard working athletes. Sometimes we fail to recognize the level of commitment, time, and effort certain teams put in, especially those who compete at the A-league level. The A-league is the highest level of competition there is for public schools. We interviewed students to see how being in the A league affects gameplay, team bonding, and coaching. Although, after meeting with students who have been competing at this level their whole high school career, they all claimed that the league you are in does not determine your sports success.
Noah Talley (‘27) who has been on the Varsity Boys Cross Country team since he was a freshman, mentions “Cross country is challenging not because of who you’re playing and what league you’re in but because you’re competing against yourself and trying to beat your best time.” He exclaims that “You’re chasing your own dreams. There are cases where you can be really good but your school doesn’t have good stats so you’re in a bad league.” This helps us come to the conclusion that in most sports, it is the effort that you put in that determines your success in a sport.
Competing at the A-league level has led to more representation in certain sports, especially currently. Cross country and Water Polo have been repeatedly successful fall sports. Players from both teams agree that their sport gets the recognition they deserve due to the level they are competing at. Captain of the Varsity Boys Water Polo team, Sam Hoffman (‘25), emphasizes that “Waterpolo gets a good amount of recognition for the level we compete at.”
However, when interviewing players from the girls’ sports, the response seems to differ. A-league does bring harder competition, but when asked about representation, Evangeline D’souza (‘26) exclaims that Girl’s Water Polo “has less funding” and is “not a prioritized sport.”Participating in the A-league does not determine the overall outcome of success for sports. There are other underlying factors that may go unnoticed in making a team successful or unsuccessful. Adya Kadam (‘25), captain of the field hockey team, believes that all sports should get equal representation, especially if they are in the same league. She mentioned that “People should go to more underrepresented games to see if they enjoy them, before concluding that they don’t like a certain sport.”
Although it is unclear the reason, Rams athletics are successful. We all have to work together to bring equal representation to all sports that continue to succeed, no matter what the level is. By doing so, we will better our community and come together as one big Ram family.
