By Sukainah Abid-Kons, contributor
Harrisonburg School Board Meetings don’t have official themes, but if they did, the theme for the Dec. 2 meeting would have been sports.
Superintendent Michael Richards announced a task force has been formed with the intent to create an athletics academy, similar to other interdisciplinary learning programs like the Fine Arts Academy at Harrisonburg High School.
Richards said the idea had been in the works for a few years, and had been mentioned to him before the covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020. Since then, he’d been interested, and the opportunity finally came up to start making it a reality.
One of the goals of the academy, as Richards describes it, is “intentionally connecting academics to athletics.”
The program will likely start on a small scale but could grow to incorporate more related topics, such as sports medicine or business, for example.
The planning is still in the early stages, he said, with the task force set to have their first meeting in the next month, but Richards already has a vision of what some of the foundational principles of the academy will be.
“It’s going to be inclusive,” said Richards. Not just for the students who are focused on sports as a career, the academy will be a program where all students can take part for the love of the game, regardless of things like physical ability.
“I want all students to be able to participate in this academy.”
The announcement followed a series of updates from coaches of the city schools’ sports teams to talk about their athletes’ accomplishments during this fall.
The Thomas Harrison boys’ soccer team finished the season 9-0-1. The team has won the City/County Championships for three of the past four years. Coach Nora White said part of her approach is to make sure her athletes are not only focused on the field, but also in the classroom.
White maintains strict expectations in terms of behavior and performance within the school building itself, requiring all players to either have an A/B average or be working towards one. White said some of her 8th-grade players during their time on the team have gone from “mostly Cs, Ds, and Fs to being nearly straight-A students.”
At Skyline Middle School, Cross Country Coach Alan Quimby said one highlight was that each athlete set at least one personal record. In addition to those personal bests, three members of the girls team placed in the top 15 in the district meet, while two boys placed in the top 10.
Rocktown High also saw a turnaround with its football program. Coach Curtis Cherebin’s squad finished with a record of 4-6, which doubled its win total from last year — the first year of the school’s existence.
“We’re working against grain somewhat, in what we’re doing,” Cherebin said at the meeting. “It’s a tough job that we all have, but we love what we do and we love the kids that we work with.”
This fall season also saw the first inter-city rivalry game between Harrisonburg High and Rocktown High, which Rocktown won 30-14.
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