Sports

Fall has come, and that means that cross-country has started up for Burlington High School. The team is starting off the season well, with a record of (2-1).  Burlington has many meets they need to focus on and some others that they will not have to worry about at all.

Burlington had lost against Wakefield on September 17th, but overcame it with a victory over Wilmington on September 24th, which to Coach Carr, was an easy one. He claimed that during that meet he did not have to use his starting runners. 

“We went right over Wilmington that week, which we kind of expected to be close,” Mathew Carr, Cross Country Coach, said.

If you lose one meet in cross-country, you can’t win any championships unless everybody else loses one. So far Burlington has lost to Wakefield, but shouldn’t be stunned yet as Melrose could shock the Middlesex League and defeat them.

“If Melrose beats Wakefield and then we beat Melrose, then we all end up four and one and we’re all tri-champions,” Mathew Carr said.

Even the runners know how much of a rivalry Burlington has against Melrose and Wakefield because of their toughness, durability, and, most importantly, speed.

”The biggest competitor for my team? I think it would be Melrose or Wakefield, Roy Kanyike, BHS junior, said. “They have a good running team and are super quick.”  

Some cross-country runners have specific pre-game rituals/routines they do before their meets. Some of them involve listening to music, eating carbs, getting their blood flowing, and meditation.

”Before meets, I meditate so I can be locked into the race,” Roy Kanyike said. 

Research by headspace.com  shows that meditation can help reduce stress, improve recovery time, improves endurance, and even help minimize the risk of injury. Many athletes should definitely add meditation to routines 

Cross-country also helps our athletes with other sports like track, hockey, and baseball. It mainly helps because when running cross-country, you have to endure many stamina restrictions that other sports may not include, but when breaking that limit, running becomes a lot easier in other sports. 

”It definitely helps get my legs used to getting ready for the season, because I have to practice, and I haven’t started practicing hockey yet,” Liam Poland, BHS freshman, said.

The Burlington cross-country team had many strengths this season and the ability to defeat other teams but also having to overcome their own weaknesses. Focusing on future meets will be good for this team because they have a lot of potential talent and strength.

The start of the fall season means the start of fall sports. However, this also means the practice of paying for tickets begins, though only for football.

At BHS, football is a fall sport that charges for tickets to each game on a ticketing website. All spectators must pay on this website or at the gate to be able to watch the game.

This raises the question, should students have to pay for football tickets? Kayla DiPietro, a BHS freshman, disagrees. 

“It’s not fair because some people might not be able to afford it, and then they can’t come to support our team,” DiPietro said.

While it does raise money for the school for gear and merch, it makes it hard for lower-income students to come support their school and can often make them feel left out.

 DiPietro, moreover, said that we should find other ways to raise money that doesn’t make it harder for lower-income students. While it is five dollars to attend one game, paying every week to go can eventually add up.

Additionally, DiPietro said that she thinks ticket prices could potentially go up due to an increase in spectators from both the high school and middle school. However, she said that ticketing may affect attendance at the games due to students having to pay to enter their own school field, as among her peers, it seemed more like a waste of their money rather than a fun event to show school spirit.

On the other hand, BHS freshman football player Jack Dooley, thinks that paying for tickets is a good thing.

“It’s good that the school charges money for a ticket so they could buy something for the school as long as it isn’t overpriced. I don’t think people mind paying for it since it isn’t too high of a price.” Dooley said,

Shaun Hart, athletic director at BHS, thinks the same. As the athletic director, he oversees all sports and makes decisions on behalf of BHS athletes. 

“Professionally, that’s what the school is supposed to do,” Mr. Hart said.

As of now, BHS charges for the most attended sports and playoffs, he said. Gated sports are the most easy to charge for, as open field sports such as softball or baseball are difficult to control. However, he added that athletes have no user fees and sports are more accessible to them, unlike most towns which charge up to 500 dollars just to play.

Additionally, Hart said that paying for games at the high school has been a longstanding tradition and has been something that was here long before he was. 

Regarding the prices, he said that they have not changed in 20 years after being set by the state, and the cost is affected only by service charges from credit card and ticketing companies.

For Mr. Hart, service fees are his number one concern. If it were up to him, he wishes we had the capability of live-streaming all sports for a minimum amount of money each month or year.