Rodeo

A sport or not a sport?
Is rodeo a sport? Hold that thought. We understand that many of
you do not live in San Benito County, where it’s pronounced
ro-d
áy-oh and taken very seriously; okay, how bout karate or
rock-climbing?
Well, if you’re a high-school student in the Morgan Hill, Gilroy
or Hollister areas, the answer is likely
”
No.
”
A sport or not a sport?

Is rodeo a sport? Hold that thought. We understand that many of you do not live in San Benito County, where it’s pronounced ro-dáy-oh and taken very seriously; okay, how bout karate or rock-climbing?

Well, if you’re a high-school student in the Morgan Hill, Gilroy or Hollister areas, the answer is likely “No.”

So, if you participate in say, rodeo, because it is not a California Interscholastic Federation-sanctioned sport, you would not be able to get a letter for participating. Some of the schools even allow athletes to omit their second-year physical education requirement in lieu of participating in sports.

The majority of local high schools have specific guidelines determined to establish what constitutes as a high school sport and what does not and the majority of them rely on the California Interscholastic Federation to hand down those decisions.

To qualify as an official sport at Gilroy High School, Athletic Director Jack Daley said that the sport would have to be approved by the CIF. “It’s a matter of funding.” He said that isn’t to say that the kids couldn’t start a club-sport, merely that it would not be official. In regards to whether those athletes could be recognized in the same fashion football and baseball players are, with letters and rallies, Daley said that the school has never examined the issue, since it’s never come up.

“If that were the case, we’d have to hold the athletes to the same clearance standards in order to qualify academically and physically, they’d have to have a physical.”

Likewise, at San Benito High School, Athletic Director Todd Thatcher takes his sports seriously.

“If a kid comes to me and tells me they want to start a sport, I tell them they need to be serious about it.”

He said that there aren’t currently any club sports on campus at San Benito, but that if a student wanted to start a club sport, they’d have to go through the clubs director and get a teacher to advise the club. If the club thrived, they could take it before the board and examine the issue, but it would have to be a legitimate club first.

San Benito offers the athletic exemption for the physical education requirement after the mandatory first year of P.E. Therefore, if an athlete participated in four sports, they could waive one year of P.E., but Thatcher said that he’d challenge any athlete that opted out of a second year of P.E.

“Usually, the second year of P.E. we recommend a weight training class and since the sports usually require weight training anyhow, they’d have to take it, so why not get credit for it.”

The high school occasionally makes special exceptions for extraordinary circumstances when it comes to awarding letters to athletes, but on a case-by-case basis.

“But we don’t want to open the floodgates, so we’re cautious, it’s pretty rare,” said Thatcher.

Morgan Hill has a somewhat different approach. In addition to the fact that every student is required to take two years of P.E., without any type of sports exemption, the school also currently offers two club sports, rugby and lacrosse. According to ASB Director Norman Dow, the school recognizes club sports equally with regular CIF sports. So, athletes who participate in rugby and lacrosse are given the same recognition as football, baseball players and wrestlers.

“They have the same eligibility for letters too,” said Dow.

Likewise, Dow said that if the students could get a sponsor they could do a rodeo club, but they would need an advisor.

Becoming a CIF sport

Traditional sports like football, baseball, soccer – even wrestling – have all been sanctioned for years.

Typically, if a school has a new sport they want to start up, they’ll usually have a club first. The club sports are more loosely based and don’t have the same guidelines or restrictions put upon them by any of the directing agencies, but still provide a forum for kids to participate in the sport through the high school.

From here, if enough schools have a particular club sport and they felt compelled to get recognized by the CIF, they’d take their plea to their section officials, in this area’s case the Central Coast Section (CCS) officials.

If the CCS officials decided that there were enough schools participating and there was a legitimate need for sanctioning, they would then file paperwork with the CIF. There are also budgetary issues. According to Emmy Zack, Director of Communications for the CIF, if a sport requires a lot of financial backing that could also impact this decision.

Once a sport becomes an official sport it doesn’t get taken away. So new sports aren’t added very often. Zack said that the most recently added sport was Lacrosse, added in 2001. Additionally, some sports are played in some areas but not in others.

She said that many schools, especially in the Central Valley have high school rodeo, but it is not a CIF sport. However, if there were enough schools in an area to show sufficient cause, they might look into it. There is also a large financial obligation associated with rodeo. Since a school has to be able to financially support all its sports, and since rodeo is a very costly activity, with the horses and facility costs, it is not likely that a school would be willing to cover all the costs.

So, is rodeo a sport?

Currently San Benito High School has about nine students participating in high school rodeo. Though they don’t have an advisor, Robin Brown who works in the office and is also a parent helps along with the other parents.

There is no animosity on the part of the rodeo teens for not being recognized, Agricultural Studies teacher Renee Reed said. “The students do this on their own. We promote it quite a bit within the ag department.”

Reed said that there are some schools in Northern California where students can even get P.E. credit for participating in rodeo. She said that the students have to train year-round, like other athletes, and have to put a lot of time, energy and money into the endeavor, but for those that participate the event has its rewards in the end.

Furthermore, Reed said that some clubs get recognized and some don’t, but the rodeo participants don’t feel slighted. As to whether or not the students could qualify for letters in rodeo, she didn’t know because she’d never even asked. She thought it was probably just a matter of filling out the paperwork and going through the process, but to her knowledge none of the other students had ever indicated interest.