As the school year is off to a rushing start, so are fall sports. Jonathan Alder’s fall sports teams strive to be the best they can be by practicing often and always working hard. Alder offers football, golf, cross country, girls tennis, soccer and marching band during the fall months.

    Growing up in the small school district of Jonathan Alder, I’ve realized we lack a couple things, including space. With the six sports the school offers during this season, they all need somewhere to practice. The football team practices on the practice football field, golf at a golf course, soccer team on the soccer practice field, tennis on the tennis courts and marching band in the parking lot. Normally, no one would see a problem with this set up, but my fellow tennis players and I disagree.

     The tennis courts are located directly behind the student parking lot, facing the back of the building. During the majority of August and September the girls tennis team plays about three matches a week and practices the other days. Tennis has always been known to be a quiet sport, where no yelling is accepted and no loud music is played. The only problem is that on Mondays and Wednesdays the high school marching band practices in the parking lot parallel with the tennis courts.

    It has been very hard to focus on playing a tennis match when the marching band is outside practicing. The tennis athletes are told to just block out the instruments and continue on playing. Often players have to shout their scores to the other team, hoping they might be heard. This loud distraction can cause scores to be counted wrong and disagreements between the players and coaches.

    It has also been difficult for the marching band to practice in their designated area when the tennis team has home matches. The athletes and fans often park in front of the tennis courts, which consists of some of the band’s practice space.

    Overall, I do not blame the marching band for practicing in that area because it was the space they were given. A resolution to the problem could be for their practicing space to be moved to the opposite side of the parking lot or the senior lot. With one of those solutions the band and tennis players would be left unbothered.