Anonymous
Edited by Alex Wang '26
Recall the number of times we’re obligated to attend a sports-related event. Pep rallies, season recognition assembly, super APAC opening and turkey bowls. They’re all still just a small part of the strong sports tradition and spirit in SAS.
Now recall the number of times we’re obligated to attend an event related to non-sport activities.
There’s not much.
However, one could argue that, because there is an overall plurality of people doing sports, many mandatory events that the school obligates us to attend, even if made non-mandatory, would still attract a significant majority. Thus, the school made it mandatory for everyone.
This is true. However, these mandatory attendances seem to give off a false impression that the school is too ‘sports-centered’, that many people who are uninvolved in the activity also have to show up, while other activities don’t have the attention they deserve.
This essay will dive into the strong athletic spirit in SAS and how that may be seen from
Sports and the American Culture
Sports have deep roots in the west.
Earlier than the first Olympics, sports have gained significant popularity, be it in the forms of bullfighting or ballgames enjoyed by the higher classes.
The early British settlers in America played sports for religious reasons, despite slightly contradicting with the Puritan belief. In the US, when the Industrial Revolution enhanced technological productivity and freed the hands of many, sports have been steadily gaining popularity as means of leisure and a symbol of upper class. Horse racing, cricket and boxing were hugely popular. Sometimes, enslaved persons on plantations would engage in ball games. Even during the American Civil War, soldiers engaged in sports and especially baseball, as the game duration was shorter and did not require a special site or surface.
Organized sports in high schools and college became popular in the late 1800s, and state-level competitions quickly emerged following the development of railroads. During the mid-19th century, more sporting events have been institutionalized and formalized, forming leagues, organizations and establishing rules. Both the professional and intercollegiate sporting events have seen significant developments. In the mid-20th century, with the development of radios and televions, sporting events reached a wider range of audience and further expanded its popularity and commercial reach. Many leagues like the National Football League and the National Basketball Associations have been established around the time period.
Today, we watch enormous sporting events on TV, and sometimes even with a time difference, and cheer for the diverse athletes participating. We look at commentaries about the olympics and listen to athletes sharing their experiences in the podcasts.
In social media, the surge of “Blokette core”, the popularity of athletic wear brands like Lululemon, and Stanley cups… A sporty, self-disciplined, energetic lifestyle can be traced to any corner of society.
Generally speaking, sports culture is significantly more prevalent in the West, that I couldn’t even find many sources sharing similar views as me of how sports potentially may be overrepresented. Even when I was doing research, an article started off with the overemphasis of sports, and abruptly ended with a link to another article full of historical praises to sports and health, fully appealing to ethos in the audience.
Probably like how the west gasps at the everyone-plays-an-instrument culture of Asian countries, there is a difference between the praise for sports in the west and the general urged necessity to be good with an instrument for the sake of ‘well-roundedness’ here. Most of the time, Asian students or parents don’t glorify playing instruments, and we don’t have, for example, traditions and celebrations like instrument rallies. We never had anything like a celebrated musical spirit.
But fundamentally, the culture between the East and the West are different, thus it’s normal to see difference in emphasis.
Academics, Extracurriculars, Athletics
The rigor of athletics in our school is obvious. Thus, they deserve the current degree of celebration. But maybe there is too much pressure being put on student athletes. And that the athletics-encouraging environment of the school does enhance the spirit and belonging of student athletes, but also pushes them to do more.
Right after school, many of my friends head straight over to Fashion mall for ‘training’, which is a generic term for an organization or class that focuses on these student athletes’ fitness. Many of these students play multiple varsity level sports, and apart from their regular sports training after school, many still do extra training outside of school.
In a sense, training has become like tutoring for normal classes like math, SAT, instruments. . Which is genius: Having the sports culture being localized with the tutoring culture here and turning it into something formal.
It’s really like one of those corners you’d see in some corner of a shopping square in Irvine that says ‘AP & SAT tutoring’. (It could be quite ‘Asian’, if you will)
However, one may feel that sometimes the athletic pressure is too much that it cuts into time for other academic extracurriculars. There was once when I and three friends were doing an important project for a competition. One of them had a rigid schedule for training that made it incompatible with the other three of us. Thus much of her participation and the whole team’s productivity were hindered. Ultimately, the project was abandoned due to a stymied and lack of interest and involvement of that teammate.
The Athletic Culture in SAS
We just had a Super APAC opening. It occurs every year where all 12 schools of APAC gather around our field and the whole school watches some performance and celebrations.
Sports are deeply rooted within our school community. It’s everywhere. Pep rallies, season recognition assembly, Turkey Bowl, Sports openings, all mandatory attendance. Large portraits of student athletes placed randomly in the corners of learning lab and the hallways. Within the activity itself, there would be senior nights and buffets. Every STUCO election, at least 3 candidates would pledge to improve the Turkey bowl experience. And that some actually put it in the dictated poster, putting it as one of the template’s three meager sentences outlining their plans for SAS. The importance of the event is apparent. There is a jersey day during Founders week.
The celebrity-like nature of getting into an university with a sports scholarship is also very much prevalent. It’s also the first time I’ve seen four people in the family sitting in front of the signature board, getting their photographs taken, on the PAC stage.
During games season, in some classes, teachers would dismiss us early so that we could go and support the games. Sometimes it was mandatory for us to go watch the games.
Of course the athletes deserves support and recognition from students, yet I have observed many sitting on the benches scrolling on their phones; very few actually cheer for their friends.
Giving students the choice to attend or not attend the games would be beneficial for the students who don’t feel as connected to the games as much, and also the athletes on the field, who would feel truly appreciated by their friends and the people who actually watch the games.
Activities Acting Undercover
Apparently, one knew that last year MUN traveled to Dublin for a conference, which almost all of us has won an award for.
Well, because it never appeared on the Weekly Activities Updates when it should have, and never got the recognition it needed.
And I was quite disappointed when I was talking to a teacher at SAS who has been here for more than 10 years, who indicated to me that most teachers are unfamiliar with the concept of SHAMUN and just MUN in general.
Likewise, little to no one knew that quiz team traveled for the Asian invitationals in SFS.
I’m sure there are much more omitted activities, perhaps involuntarily, but most of them appears to be non-sport activities.
I asked a friend in quiz team, who believes that quiz team had more recognition, but who also said, the few passionate individuals at the core of the team is enough.
I guess, taking another perspective: maybe we’re the few selected diplomats travelling undercover.
Inclusivity
Have you ever felt slightly detached, at some pep rallies or assemblies, and have felt guilty about it. But the celebrations down the benches don’t seem to be quite relevant to you, and you’re worried about your test next block.
Something I found extremely interesting is that even if I have explicitly said that I am a shadow officer of our school’s MUN program, people would still say right to my face (even multiple times), how they hate MUN and many more unsolicited opinions about it. They seem to enjoy it.
It’s funny that many consider it to be okay to insult MUN to a MUNer, yet one who states that they would not like to watch the games because they have work to do would receive awkward stares.
Not to say that any form of ‘I hate what you do’ should be said to anyone, but MUN seemed to be the thing that people unfamiliar with it like to mock and poke their fingers at.
Many say that non-sport activities like MUN, Quiz team, and Robotics are too complicated to understand and that the activity itself isn’t suited for spectators.
It is true to some extent, however, giving these activities some basic recognition and respect need not be complicated and time-consuming. For admins: the simple act of updating their competition results on the Weekly Activities Update email, being more considerate of potential scheduling conflicts, and being more attentive of even just how they’re spelled.
For students: the simple kindness of not insulting MUN to a MUNer or any activity to anyone who participates in it, and in essence simply acknowledging and appreciating the value of their work and giving them.
SHAMUN and Some Last Thoughts
The last few edits I made on this article was right after I finished the 3 days of SHAMUN. The whole officer team, especially the secretariats, were exhausted from managing the conference logistics. As a shadow officer, I took part in helping with merch organizing and placements, where we stayed after school the night before the conference, and in the corridors of the third floor in A building, you would’ve seen 10 students organizing merch in an assembly line fashion. Despite making our backs sore, this was the first and easiest step of all the work that followed: cutting placards, assembling placards, ordering lanyards, putting up committee X-stands, asking the staff for more tables… Our fingers bled.
After dinner, we sorted lanyards and moved them to the PAC for the registration next day, and finished at 8pm. It was considered quite early, compared to previous SHAMUNs.
Still, many more logistical nightmares have occurred despite how organized we were: schools, notifying us last moment that they were dropping out, disturbing the political balance of many committees; students, texting the chairs, with one even 2 hours after committee has started, that they won’t be coming, with spurious or even non-existent reasons.
Delegates from our own school, dropping out because this year the school has organized Media Day to occur on the first day of SHAMUN. And last year, international fair.
Considering that the annual SHAMUN is expansive, with 17 schools, (bigger than the super APAC actually), and more than 200 delegates coming, fully occupying the physical space of the campus, as well as the attention of catering services and security guards; it’s tricky for all to have another activity occur on the same busy day.
Many more incidents (like consistently misspelling SHAMUN, for example) have shown that our school’s MUN program deserves a tiny bit more attentiveness.
The MUN officers (most of them seniors, IBDP, right before the ED deadline) should not need to stay so late after school consistently, and even having to take a day off from school just to work on conference logistics.
It’s not that SHAMUN doesn’t have scale, history of 24 years at SAS, or basic popularity and excellence. The MUN program deserves more respect and some prioritization from both the admin and the participating students.
Yet, nothing said points fingers towards anyone or accuses the activities office of prioritizing other activities; it simply argues that many activities, have passionate and dedicated students willing to work intensely for them, and they deserve much more respect and recognition for their work.
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