Interview of Jordan
As I was walking in Sutherland high school corridors, I noticed at the entrance lots of trophies won by lots of different sport teams. So why are sports so important in the United States? For that, I asked Jordan.
So first, what sports do you play Jordan? And for how long have you been playing them?
I play a bunch of different sports: volleyball which I have been playing for about 4 years now. I also do track and field which is just like outdoor running which I have been doing for 3 years, and do karate too, and when I turn 16 next year, it will be my 10th year doing it.
Describe a typical day of yours.
During the fall season right now, my typical day begins at 6 when I get up because school starts at 7:35 for us. So I go through my school day, and afterwards I have a time to do homework and then I go to sports. So I have a volleyball practice for 2 hours and I do not go home from school before technically 6. And sometimes, I even have more sports like having to go to karate but usually I just do the rest of my homework and eat dinner, or I have a volleyball game during the week.
What do sports represent to you?
Personally, sports are a big part of my life and always have been. It is for me a way to let out whatever emotions I am feeling, to just leave everything. So it is a good outlet for me.
Do you why sports are so popular here?
I think part of the reason why it is so popular here is because a lot of parents sign their kids young at sports like I know people that start around the age of 2. The most practiced sports in the area are lacrosse, soccer and baseball. Those are really popular so people start young which make a lot of children still playing.
What do you think about people who do not play any sports?
I do not think that is a bad thing because there are so many other things to do than just sports. You can be involved in a lot of other activities, whether it is politics or debating, or if you are interested in studying nature or arts that is as good as sports. So it is not a bad thing not to play sports because you can have other interests but I think sports is a cool thing.
Why is it so important to do activities outside school?
It is very important because it looks good on your college application. Colleges in the United States want to see that you are very well rounded and that you do not just focus on school, and that you do other things. They like to see a variety of things.
What is the difference between sports you play and gym?
The difference? So in gym, honestly, most people do not take it very seriously and you can tell when you watch us, we just mess around. Some of the sports we play are not offered as a real thing. Gym teachers even make up sports too, for example smash ball or pick a ball which are games with balls and you have to score but with different rules, not a real thing really. We also play badminton and this is not a very big sport here, but then we also play traditional sports like soccer, football or others. And we get grades on our effort and participation, so we have to play.
What about the specific dress code you have before a game?
For volleyball, at least for our school, our coach makes a strict dress code because in games, we wear spandex which are really tight shorts and we are not supposed to wear them during the day, out of the gym, so we just like to put sweatpants or leggings over. Another big thing in our area is everyday on a sport game, we have a specific dress code to respect, and these are called psych. It is usually your team captain who decides it. It is another way to get you pumped up for a game but it is a certain outfit you wear. A bunch of psych ideas we had so far were black-out, which is basically wearing all black and same for white-out, America, so we wear flags and stuff like that. We also did rainy day with umbrellas and rain boots or sunny day with sunglasses and Hawaiian shirts. We have done crazy things! On senior night, one of the game at the end of the season, the seniors on your team get to pick the psych which is why we had a really crazy one the other day. Each senior chose something for us to wear, so we had 8 different parts to the outfit. We wore tutus, 2 different shoes, we also had yellow tee-shirts for the seniors that say « we love our seniors » on the back and then we had to make crazy buns on our heads and we had to carry around a stuffed animal.
Written by Emma Arondel