Across the Spectrum
November 24, 2009
Neuqua Valley High School has one of the strongest athletic departments in the state of Illinois. However, since Neuqua is so diverse, there are many opportunities to participate in a sport, not necessarily just a school sanctioned one, such as club sports and intramurals.
The Illinois High School Association, or IHSA, currently has 30 sanctioned sports in the state of Illinois, with Neuqua carrying 28 of those sports. By being sanctioned, the sports are fully supported by the school, with the school paying for most of the costs.
“Interscholastic sports are sports that compete against different high schools that are under the jurisdiction of the high school,” said Athletic Director, Barb Barrows. “Our interscholastic programs have been approved from our board to run these programs.”
Club sports differ slightly from school sanctioned sports. For a club sport, teams are often forced to pay for registration, which result in large fees. These fees pay for field space, transportation, referees, equipment, and coaching salaries.
“Club sports are all outside, paid for outside by parents and the families,” Barrows said. “They were given extended permission to use the name because they are Neuqua students.”
In order to be sanctioned, a sport must be approved by the Illinois High School State Association, or the IHSA.
“The sanctioning part of it comes from the Illinois High School State Association based on feeling there is enough support,” Barrows said. “As in enough schools that participate that justifies a state tournament.”
However, just because a sport is sanctioned by the IHSA does not necessarily mean Neuqua will pick it up as an interscholastic sport.
“In your budget you have to consider uniforms, transportation, cost of officials, cost of entry fees,” Barrows said. “There’s a lot that goes into having a program.”
If students do not want to compete for a sanctioned or club sport, they have the chance to sign up for intramurals. Intramurals are open to everyone and are entirely elective.
“Intramurals are activities offered to students that are non-interscholastic, meaning they only compete within their own high school,” Barrows said. “It’s students against students.”
Even though students do not compete with other schools, it gives them a chance to be competitive at a different level of play.
“It gives kids an opportunity that may not have made interscholastic programs, that they can still be very involved in a sport they like,” Barrows said. “We want to keep as many kids active as we can.”
Elizabeth Maluta, Sports Editor
