Sports at NICS
Sports at NICS
by Darian Kelly
North Idaho Christian School should not let people who attend a different school that offers a sports play for our teams. The school teams should be reserved for students who attend our school, homeschoolers, or students whose school does not offer the sports we offer. This allows for the kids that attend our school to actually play and get minutes in whichever sports they participate in, whether that be basketball, volleyball, or cross country.
North Idaho Christian School is a small school in North Idaho that offers a healthy opportunity for kids who do not want to attend public school, but also do not like being homeschooled. We are more known for our academics, not our sports teams. But, just like every other highschool, we have kids that want to compete in sports. So we offer a basketball, volleyball, and new-to-us cross country team. These teams were created for the kids that went to our school to play in; played in a league that offers a better environment than that of the public school variety. It also offers competitive play for students who are not of the elite athlete gene pool; the kids that play are just everyday kids that enjoy the sport and are willing to put in a little bit of time and effort, but not what is needed to play at a 5A public school level. Kids that go to public school have a variety of sports that are offered. “It’s not fair for us at NICS,” says James Kelly, “they need to stay at their own school.” If a kid from said school really wanted to play for their school, they would put in the time and effort needed to play. There is no reason for them to come to our school and steal minutes from kids that actually attend NICS.
Unfortunately, that is not how other schools in the Mountain View Christian League see it; they believe that allowing kids into their program is reasonable, and makes the league more competitive. This is also what Cross Pilgrim believes: “ I think if a kid has more talent and heart for basketball, they deserve to play.” However, in reality they are just trying to make their team better so that they can win the trophy for that year. So that puts NICS in a difficult position; do they accept kids from other schools and compete at the same level of the other schools, or do they deny them and potentially get beat because other teams have more talent and athleticism. Ultimately, sports are about having fun. If a kid that goes to NICS is sitting on the bench because someone from a different school is playing in place of them, than how is that any fun? The kids at our school should come first, then homeschoolers.
Some would say that our programs are meant to be a ministry to kids who are not Christians. Riley Bailey agrees with this. “I went to public school, and it’s terrible. Just playing a team like the school that I went to would be a ministry in itself.” We don’t need to try and bring as many kids into our sports programs to do that though. Simply by competing with non Christian schools and setting a good example is a ministry in itself. If the kids from other schools want to know more about Christ, they will ask. If they only want to play for our team and don’t care at all about Christ and were really interested in our sports programs, then they would always have the opportunity to join our school and learn about Christ all while playing for us.
In conclusion, students at our school come first when it comes to sports. That may sound like it goes against the Bible and that we should allow everyone to join us; but that is not the case. We have to remember why the sports teams were created- as a way for Christian kids at our school to enjoy sports without the worldly influence to do things that they should not.