Athletics
Reprinted from "Parent News"
March, 2003
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Having been an active participant in both high school and college athletics, I know first hand that there are lessons to be learned on the football field, the wrestling mat or the rugby pitch that are not part of the physics, music or literature curriculum. There were lessons I needed to learn about the direct connection between regular, dedicated effort and resulting improvement. In team sports I learned what it means to work closely with others toward a common goal and what it means to trust and believe in one’s teammates. Talented coaches taught me not only skills and game strategy, but also how to win with class and lose with grace.
Our students learn a great deal through their participation in athletics. John Locke, quoting Juvenal, wrote, “A sound mind in a sound body, is a short, but full description of a happy state in this world.” This ancient notion can be seen as the inspiration for some of our current thinking, for example, Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, one of which is kinesthetic. In no arena at Blake is this form of intelligence cultivated and allowed to flourish as it is in athletics.
More than 85 percent of all Upper School students compete each year as members of at least one interscholastic team. We require participation during at least one season on the part of all freshman and sophomores. We reflect our commitment to the competitive nature of sport by fielding the strongest varsity teams we can. All who want to participate, however, can do so on our junior varsity or B squad teams.
Blake offers programs for both girls and boys in soccer, tennis, cross country, swimming, fencing, basketball, hockey, Alpine and Nordic skiing, golf, track and field, and lacrosse. In addition, we have boys’ football, baseball and single-handed sailing, and girls’ volleyball and softball. Last year Blake had more than 50 teams and 75 coaches. We have a more extensive offering of programs than any other school in the Tri-Metro Conference, though our enrollment places us as a mid-sized school in this cohort. While we care to be competitive, we also believe in the benefit of participation. We would rather offer more sports than funnel our best student athletes into fewer programs, which is what some schools do either to boost competitiveness or to address budgetary concerns.
Since 1990-91 (to pick a recent date), Blake has won 19 state championships and 61 conference championships. According to our records, this is significantly more than any other school in the Tri-Metro Conference. While there has been considerable success in almost all sports at some point, we’ve tended to be a perennial powerhouse in boys’ and girls’ tennis, boys’ hockey and golf, and recently, girls’ hockey, basketball and lacrosse.
Currently, we are studying how Middle School students best fit into this overall athletic program. We have traditionally fielded a couple of interscholastic teams each season for both girls and boys in eighth grade. During the current year, we are running a total of 12 eighth grade teams and Middle School students have the opportunity to participate on 12 supplemental teams. Middle School students can compete on varsity teams if they fulfill certain conditions. A committee chaired by Athletic and Physical Education Director Rollie Johnson, and including faculty members, administrators and parents, has drafted a set of recommendations that will expand and strengthen athletic opportunities for Middle School students. I expect to respond to these recommendations this spring.
We are also expanding programs aimed at skill development in our summer session. Many varsity coaches are offering camps and clinics to students of a variety of ages as a part of the Blake Summer Programs.
Finally, I would like to demystify the widely misunderstood topic of “recruiting.” While coaches, parents and other interested parties should not approach student athletes enrolled in other schools and “recruit” them to apply to Blake, once a student athlete and his or her family have contacted the school indicating an interest in Blake, we do actively recruit those students we think would be a good fit at this school. We also recruit math prodigies, talented violin players and promising poets. We do not, however, have any “athletic scholarships.” All financial aid at Blake is awarded based upon a family’s ability to pay.
There is nothing like a beautiful spring day for strolling the Hopkins campus from a lacrosse game to a baseball game to a track meet. If you’ve not been to a Blake vs. Breck hockey game, you’ve not seen our school spirit in full color and throat. Blake athletics is a central component of the experience we offer. Go Bears!
John Gulla
Head of School
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