Students who participate in school sports solely for the purpose of getting a prep are wasteful, foolish and greedy. I constantly hear students say, “I’m doing it just for the prep” as an explanation for their participation in a sport, and it’s time for these people to come to their senses.

The main problem with joining a team to get a prep is that if an athlete is not committed, he or she is simply wasting the coach’s time. This gives the coaches less time to work with athletes that are genuinely interested in their sport, which is not only unfair to them, but also impacts the team’s overall success.

Another issue is that it is poor time management. Some say that a prep gives you up to an extra hour to do homework before class, but a sport, even a non-cut sport like track, can take almost an hour and a half or more for practice.

Also, working at home oftentimes is much more efficient than working at school because there are far fewer distractions. The Academic Center is filled with noise and people, enticing several students to go out to lunch or socialize instead of work.

Doing a sport simply to get “extra” time for schoolwork is not only a waste of time. It’s a waste of money. The students in question here are essentially buying a prep. Every student who participates in a school sport must pay a $150 athletic fee. Therefore, students whose main goal is to do as little as possible are completely wasting their money. It is unethical to let students with extra money get out of P.E. while others, who may be in better physical shape, but insolvent, are stuck taking physical education.

It seems crazy to me to go out for a sport when the entire goal is to get out as soon as possible and with the least work possible. The reason Gunn has a P.E. requirement is to keep its students in shape, so if you skip P.E. and then mess around at your sport, you are hardly getting any exercise, which can have very detrimental effects to your health

If students want to get out of P.E., there must be a better way. I believe that the P.E. department should give preps only to athletes participating in cut sports, or to individuals who pass fitness testing during the year. Also, students who can prove that they are getting over four hours of physical activity a week, whether it be club soccer, horseback riding or ice skating, should be let out of P.E. because they are getting as much activity as they would be in the class.

These changes would let students who are in good shape not have to waste their time in a class that benefits them very little. It would also stop students from trying to sneak around the system and turn their focus to getting healthy. Letting students who pass the fitness tests get preps would also motivate students to try. I mean how much harder would you try on the mile if you knew that if you got a good time, you would never have to run it again?

It is a shame that so many students waste their coaches’ and teammates’ time, as well as their parents’ money, on an activity that they simply do not enjoy. So, to all the freshmen and sophomores out there, I advise you not to take a sport just for a prep. It really is not worth it.