During the month of September, Athletic Director and Head football coach Tyler Arciaga conducted a meeting with all of the Bonita Vista High (BVH) fall sports captains to discuss a variety of ways that the fall sports teams could support each other, along with how the coaches could support their athletes. Moreover, topics like sportsmanship and respect were covered during the meeting.
“Regardless of your sport and what gender you are, you need to be kind and respectful to other people. So, we talked about different topics that came up, whether it be sportsmanship or spectator involvement and how to make sure that we can represent Bonita Vista in the most positive manner possible,” Arciaga said.
During the meeting, Arciaga also discussed how he temporarily put a pause on sports captains having the opportunity to speak during the sports assemblies. He specifically mentioned how there were a few instances where sports teams would disparage other teams.
“Whenever you give an open microphone to somebody, you never know what’s going to happen, but for the most part everything is good,” Arciaga said. “I talked with all the captains that we’re all here together.”
For cross country captain and senior Jose Godinez, this meeting was informational and agreed with the purpose of it. He states how it was helpful for the team captains to be on the same page as everyone else and discuss ways to support each other.
“I think that was a big help to introduce different team captains to each other. It really opened up my eyes to see what other teams are like and how they would like to be supported as well,” Godinez said.
Similarly to Godinez, girls’ tennis captain Catherine Wunderly found the meeting as an opportunity to come together as a team and discuss ways to improve sportsmanship. For Wunderly, the meeting allowed her to get to know the rest of the team captains for the fall season.
“There’s never been a connection between the captains. I think [the meeting] was good. I got to know about the other sports. Some of them feel like they’re not represented, and it brought awareness about the other sports communities,” Wunderly said.
The unequal representation sports teams face is also a topic Arciaga touched upon during the meeting. To take a step into creating an inclusive environment, Arciaga started “Athlete of the Week,” where a student from both boys’ and girls’ teams—who represents a different sport— is highlighted as a significant contributor every week.
“Coach Arciaga also started Athlete of the Week, which was something we talked about in the meeting, because it would create a positive environment—just like Baron of the Day. We have an athlete of the week to commemorate all the sports,” Wunderly said.
With a newly implemented athletic accolade, athletes have been encouraged to support games held by other BVH sports teams. Godinez believes that students attending sports games is important when supporting the student athletes. For example he explains that he has been encouraging the cross country team to attend practices and games for other sports teams as a group.
“Coming together through different sports is very important because a lot of the people on different teams may not be recognized on campus. It would make a big difference if everyone showed up to promote games,” Godinez said.
As Arciaga agrees with these goals, he also believes that positivity and kindness is one of the most important factors for sports teams to feel included and succeed. With the successful turn out of his meeting with the fall sports team, he plans on meeting with the rest of the sports teams when their season comes around.
“It takes zero talent to be kind, receptive and to wish well for other people. And I think when you open a light to [an issue], it highlights it,” Arciaga said.
