Berkeley High School has 18 varsity level sports, with over one thousand student athletes. Many of these athletes played sports before entering high school at club or middle school level. However, going from middle school to high school sports is still a large leap.
Owen Stoddard, a freshman at BHS, explained the difference between high school and middle school sports, describing middle school sports as having, “no real competition, It was just a lot more recreational.”
Stoddard explained that the main purpose of middle school sports is to build community. The emphasis was a lot less on hard work and improvement, in contrast to what his high school experience has been so far.
The ways that some sports are played can even change between middle and high school according to Kai Ferlatte, another current BHS freshman. Ferlatte played flag football from sixth to eighth grade at Willard Middle School. This year, Ferlatte decided to make the transition to play tackle football at BHS. Ferlatte shared how he felt apprehensive when he first began playing tackle football, due to its more aggressive gameplay.
“I know we have pads and stuff, but we can still get injured on parts of your body other than your head, chest, and shoulders,” Ferlatte said.
Even though it took some time getting used to the new variation of his sport, Ferlatte still maintains a positive outlook, and has enjoyed his time on the team.
For some athletes, the biggest change when transitioning to high school sports is not the fundamental rules of the sport, but in the expectations put on them. Annika Silverstrim, a BHS sophomore who plays varsity lacrosse and field hockey, shared her experience with these changes. When Silverstrim was in middle school, she received no consequences for showing up late to practice or missing it altogether. At BHS, however, her coaches will take away opportunities for playing time in games if students are absent.
“There is a much higher expectation with showing up, being present, and actively putting in effort every single day. In middle school, expectations were much lower. We had leeway,” Silverstrim said.
This is a common trend among various BHS sports. Most teams have five to six practices per week, with each practice usually lasting two hours. In addition, student-athletes are often expected to attend all games and practices; if they are unable to, they need to directly contact their coach about their absence. Comparatively, King Middle School only has around two mandatory practices a week for every sport, and each practice lasts roughly an hour and a half.
BHS also has academic requirements, preventing students with a GPA below 2.0 or more than one F from participating in school sanctioned sports. Contrary to this, Berkeley Unified School District middle schools do not enforce any GPA minimums to participate in their sports. The only requirement is that students sign up for Links Enrichment, Academics and Recreation to the Needs of Students, an afterschool program run by the school district. However, in high school, more students feel pressure to not only maintain the minimum GPA in order to play, but also to devote lots of time and energy to their sport.
“Every grade now matters … for high school, I feel like every single percentage point matters and everything means more,” Stoddard said.
Despite these challenges, being involved in BHS sports is worth it.
“I was a little nervous, but I was excited, and I really like it so far,” Ferlatte said.