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Letter To the Editors
Although the Tiger Rag welcomes and occasionally prints responses from students, staff, and community members in the form of Letters to the Editor, they do not reflect the opinions of the newspaper staff members or Chaffey administration. The following letter was submitted by an anonymous Chaffey staff member. Any comments should be directed to The Tiger Rag newspaper, in care of the editors.
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The Solitary Sport at Chaffey
Chaffey High School has a long tradition of organized team sports. Our football, soccer, basketball, and baseball teams (yes, and women's softball!) have made a significant difference in the lives of the participating students. We expect that participation in a sport will build the character of the player, and we count on our coaches to bring about a change in the spirit and moral fiber of their charges. The cheering crowds, the cheerleaders, the recognition in the hallways from other students all add to the creation of the athlete's character.
There is, however, another sport here at Chaffey that builds character, self-reliance, leadership, inter-dependence, as well as athletic skill and personal confidence. The sport is totally self-sponsored with no adult supervision, no coaches, no school sponsorship, no alumni contributions, no cheerleaders, or cheering crowds.
In fact, it thrives at Chaffey in spite of it being prohibited on campus and its players being occasionally harassed and hassled by not only adults and members of the school administration, but even the police, who periodically sweep in and give tickets to the players. Yes, I'm talking about skaters and skateboarding here at Chaffey High School.
Have you ever walked across the quad an hour after school? If so, you undoubtedly saw many guys, and even some girls, of all ages skateboarding, working on their skills and having quiet fun. You may even have had to stop to let a skater pass, but more likely it was the skaters who stopped, letting you pass before taking their next run. Perhaps you paused just to watch them make their next run, wondering if they would "catch enough air" to make the stunt work this time.
You could watch them for hours, until dark drives them home, and you will never see a fight or even an argument. Indeed, you will hear very little being said at all. You will see them give each other quiet nods of approval when someone makes a trick, but as a general rule, the only approval a skater gets is internal.
Some of the easier (a relative term) tricks are the basic Ollie, Kick Flip, and One-Eighty. You will see the younger skaters working on these with the more experienced ones watching, giving tips where they can. This is the heart of sportsmanship; amateurs helping amateurs just for the love of the sport.
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