In a small school the majority of the time there aren’t enough funds or people to make full sports teams or groups. As seen in District One with Chapman and Mabry, middle school students often look towards the high school when there is not a group of their interest at the middle school.

Parents and other people often question whether or not the younger kids should be able to participate these teams because of the hardships they may have to face as a result of closely working with older students.

As a middle schooler, there are a lot of challenges that get thrown their way; classes get harder, and more responsibility gets put on them. The dedication and time management it takes to be on a team is hard for older students as well, but being the youngest and going through the “middle school transition” puts even more stress and intimidation onto them.

Younger students also need more sleep, but when they have a competition, game or practice until late that night, it could cause them to lose sleep and not be as open and as focused in school the next day.

However, though there are challenges to being on a high school team as a younger student, there are major advantages.

If they feel like they are dedicated and focused enough to manage their time and work hard enough, they should have all the support that every other person gets!

On top of their strong dedication, they also have the talent to get into the performance or team. If their skills are that of a high schooler, they should be able to live up to their ability on a higher team.

There is no reason to hold them back if they feel like they’re prepared for the responsibility and hard work a team requires. Every person, high school and middle school, has to maintain a certain average to remain on the team or production.  If their grades are being jeopardized because of their activity, it will be handled by the school anyways.

As high schoolers, the younger students look up to us. We need to be encouraging them to participate in more of our sports and activities and continuing to uplift them when they do. That type of commitment is hard work and sometimes stressful. We need to be there for them when they feel as though it’s too much, encouraging them to continue on and persevere. Afterall, their talent is evident enough to be competing with and against people older than them.

Afterall, once we’re gone they’re the ones taking our place, we need to leave it all in good hands.