San Juan Bautista
– The athletic department at Anzar High School, which is just
about to wrap up its eighth year of educating the youth of San Juan
Bautista, is growing and improving with each graduating class.
San Juan Bautista – The athletic department at Anzar High School, which is just about to wrap up its eighth year of educating the youth of San Juan Bautista, is growing and improving with each graduating class.
There’s only one thing missing: Football.
But don’t expect to see any goalposts in the ground at Anzar High anytime soon. School administrators have been crunching the numbers regarding getting a football team started for some time now and they have determined that it isn’t going to happen any time in the near future.
“It’s just not a possibility for our school at this time.” said superintendent Jackie Munoz.
Anzar High’s student body currently consists of approximately 350 students, about an even 50 percent of those students being male. In order to create a successful football program, the school would need to field a junior varsity team as well as a varsity squad. And, given the fact that each team would consist of 40 members, the 80 athletes it would take to get the program up and running would require nearly half of the boys enrolled at Anzar to participate.
That just isn’t realistic.
And for a small school like Anzar High, which draws enrollment from the equally small communities of San Juan and Aromas, the financial requirements of fielding a football team simply aren’t realistic either.
“Something that people sometimes forget is that, just because we’re a smaller school doesn’t mean that everything is on a smaller scale,” said Anzar principal Charlene McKowen. “The cost of a sport is the same no matter what the size of the school.”
Superintendent Munoz has determined that it would take $300,000 to purchase just uniforms and equipment like tackling dummies and blocking sleds for two football teams. And then there’s the field. It would cost the school about $100,000 as well as some financial help from the community to construct a playing surface on the grounds at Anzar and that doesn’t include goal posts, stadium lights, bleachers or a snack shack.
Not to say there will never be a football program at Anzar High. When the school first opened, it was determined that the student body would eventually max out at 800 students with the addition of some new buildings for classrooms and other facilities. At that point, a football program will become a very real possibility.
In the meantime, student athletes at Anzar High who want to play football can take advantage of a school policy that allows students to form clubs on their own. A flag-football club has been discussed but hasn’t yet been introduced. Both principal McKowen and athletic director Susie Swing welcome any effort by students to form such a club.
