Dancing. Yoga. Equestrian. Though these unusual sports are not offered at the school, dozens of students devote hours to them each week.
Many of them, including junior Amelia Troyer, who studies hatha yoga at the Bikram Yoga Studio in San Jose, hope their sport will eventually be incorporated into the school’s athletic program.
“In such a highly stressful school, it would be lovely for Saratoga High to incorporate yoga into its offerings,” said Troyer. “However, its scarcity in schools wouldn't make it easy to hold the competitions.”
Although Troyer isn’t sure students would not take hatha yoga seriously as a sport, she still encourages everyone to try it.
“Many people fail to acknowledge the competitive aspect that yoga can offer as well as its physical and mental benefits,” Troyer said. “Bikram yoga has given me a solid ground to stand on, both mentally and physically, and I'm so happy to be able to gain [P.E.] credit doing what I love.”
Troyer says that it is extremely beneficial for any student. “The postures are incredibly therapeutic and healing for anyone in any sport,” Troyer said. “My practice has for sure helped me stay sane during school.”
However, students such as equestrian show jumper Elizabeth McAfee, a senior, find that some sports may not be realistic to incorporate into a school setting.
“It’s hard to have a horse-back riding team in high school mostly because of the lack of talented horses,” McAfee said.
Senior Brynn Littlehale, who also participates in equestrian, agrees. “It would be very hard to implement a team, especially with there being so many different styles of riding, and not a great location nearby,” Littlehale said. “But I do know several private schools that have competition teams, so it is plausible.”
Sophomore dancer Joy Tang is having more success with implementing her sport at school. Tang decided to start a dance team because her friends at her dance company made it into their school dance team so Tang wanted to have a similar experience.
Tang is working with assistant principal Kerry Mohnike to form the team. There is currently a signup list on Mohnike’s door for interested students.
According to Mohnike, they are trying to gauge what the interest is in the team before they begin creating it.
The main obstacle in forming the team is finding a capable coach. “We’re looking for coaches, trying to figure out how to pay the coaches, and what the rehearsal schedule will look like,” Mohnike said. “I’m hoping to find somebody who knows about the competitive environment out there.”
The school used to have a dance team, but it was eventually merged with the spirit squad. However, the kind of competition that spirit does is different from what the students who are interested in this dance team want to do.
“Even though dance takes up a lot of my time, I am not willing to give it up because I love it so much,” Tang said. “I hope that this team can be formed so I can help represent Saratoga High.”
