Turning on the AC: Stereotypes don’t fit local teens
One of the benefits of covering high school and college sports is getting to watch the future leaders of this country and our community in action.
If you read a newspaper, watch talk shows or listen to sports radio, there’s quite a bit of misinformation out there regarding kids, particularly teenagers.
We’ve all heard it.
Today’s youth isn’t nearly as tough as it was 20, 30 or 40 years ago. This new generation is too soft, selfish, self-absorbed, disengaged and so on.
There are always examples of people who fit that category, but more often than not it’s the opposite.
Just this week, I’ve been treated to some of the very best from our area student-athletes at Tuesday evening’s Glendale Unified School District Board of Education meeting.
The Glendale High girls’ tennis team has been on a victory lap since Nov. 10 when the Nitros defeated Rancho Mirage, 10-8, at the Claremont Club to capture a CIF Southern Section Division IV Championship.
The title was not only the first in program history, but the first CIF trophy for any Glendale High girls’ sport’s program.
The board presented members of the team with certificates of achievement, while the girls, along with coach Tom Gossard, were told their names would literally be etched into history in the school’s trophy case.
After photos were taken, Glendale team captain Emi Guzman stepped up to the microphone.
With a chance to talk about this season’s challenges or about a playoff run that saw Glendale win a title out of a wild-card spot or even to brag, Guzman took a historical overview.
“This is more than just a win for our girls’ tennis team,” she said. “In a world where sexism is still pertinent, this is a win for the entire community of female athletes at Glendale High School because, as mentioned before, we are the first female sport to ever win a CIF championship at our school.”
Since the implementation of Title IX in 1972, Glendale girls’ sports had visited the semifinals twice, but had never reached the promise land. While thrilled for her team’s success, Guzman was hoping the team’s title would be the start of something special.
“I wish Glendale High many, many more girls’ tennis, girls’ basketball, girls’ volleyball, girls’ softball, girls’ soccer, girls’ water polo, girls’ swimming, girls’ golf, girls’ lacrosse, girls’ track and field and girls’ cross-country CIF championships to come,” she closed to a loud applause.
A little later in the meeting, a contingent of five Crescenta Valley High students pleaded to the board not to move back the start of its school calendar a week later in August for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 years.
One of the student speakers was Kyle Schmidt, a junior on the Crescenta Valley swim team.
“As we push our calendar forward, we’re actually going to have less time to prep for [the season],” Schmidt said. “We wouldn’t have much time to prepare for this; therefore we would be worse as a school and do worse at CIF.”
Schmidt’s participation and that of his school mates at a board meeting was refreshing. Honestly, not many people go to the meetings or care.
Yet, he and his peers received a different treatment.
Of the five students, four were told to “sum up” their positions or hurry up in a flippant manner by the board because there were a lot of speakers. None, however, took longer than five minutes.
Interestingly enough, the next two adult speakers easily went over five minutes without a protest by the same clock-watchers.
Even though the board ultimately voted, 5-0, to move the start date to the third week in August, Schmidt and his friends showed a lot of character and class.
Sure there were winners and losers that evening, but there were also a bunch of kids who were engaged, intelligent, thoughtful and tenacious.
Some people will say that’s rare. I call it a Tuesday night.
