What they're saying about the proposed elimination of William Penn sports
A day after the York City School Board unveiled its newest, most aggressive budget cuts to date, William Penn coaches and athletes were left to reflect on the possibility of the school's athletic program being completely eliminated. As you might expect, most expressed a mixture of hope, frustration and disbelief.
They were plenty of quotes, however, that didn't make their way into my reaction story. A few of them are after the jump.
Also, check out this Storify with reactions to the new budget cuts, along with this state senate update that could help offset at least some of the district's deficit.
Troy Sowers, William Penn basketball coach
On when he first heard about the possibility of sports being cut:
"I told my guys last week, if you wake up Tuesday and you see basketball cut, that’s not the end of the world. That’s the preliminary. ... I can’t even imagine what it is to have York High without sports.
On why sports are important to the school:
"All those things that would be lost. Not just making baskets, but the overall high school experience for kids, will be lost at York High if we don’t have the extracurriculars.
On his players' attitude:
"They just sort of just keep going. I saw a bunch of them today in school. No one is really conceding to the fact that we won’t have basketball. I think it’s unfathomable that we don’t have basketball."
Tavon Parker, William Penn junior basketball/football player
On his reaction to the possible elimination of sports:
"It’s devastating. There’s just kids talking about transferring and whatnot. A lot of people’s moods are just down. A lot of the kids in the high school live to play sports. They use to sports to sort of push them in school. Sports are the reason they go harder. I’ve been playing basketball since I was four. It seems like the all the hard is going to waste.
"It almost seems fake, the fact that you can consider York City without sports.
"We had a football pracitce scheduled for today, it's almost seems like ‘What’s the point? What’s the point of cotinuing to work?' "
Shawn Heinold, William Penn football coach
On the idea of William Penn without sports:
"Just talking to some longtime teachers and other people in the district, they can’t even imagine it. How the community would react. Bottom line: It’s not fair to the kids. Every kid should be offered the opportunity to participate in high school sports. We’re prepared to go out and fundraise if we have to.
"I’m just trying to get the ship steady. We’re still moving forward with spring ball and out weightlifting program. The kids are asking questions obivously, and we’re all concerned. I’m just doing my best with the staff to keep things going.
"Especially in our situation, a lot of our kids use sports to get to the next level and get to college. It just gives them something to do when school is over. An opportunity to stay out of trouble and be a part of something. I’ve gotten kids saying ‘I’m transferring, I want to go play football.' Just frustration to disbelief and anger. Just a whole wide array of emotions that I’m seeing. "