The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/sports/)
How many Cornell students played or captained a varsity sport in high school? I could not find any specific data points online but speaking with other students, you almost certainly can find a higher percentage of students that played varsity athletics in high school than the current 8 percent of Cornellians that still do. So what changed from high school to college that resulted in less students playing varsity sports?
There comes a time in almost every high school-to college-aged kid’s life where they stop playing organized sports.
For some, it’s a moment of relief. You never really wanted to play soccer anyway, you only really did it because you weren’t half-bad and you knew your teammates and parents would be a little disappointed if you quit. Besides, it looked good on the college app. Maybe you were done after freshman year of high school because you worked up the courage to say no, this isn’t for me. Or maybe you enjoyed your time playing your sport, but you were just ready. It’d been a long season, and it was bittersweet to be done, but it was right.
Ya gotta believe, I said to myself as I jumped in my car on Sunday morning, making the spontaneous decision to drive four and a half hours from Ithaca to Queens for Game Three of the National League Wild Card series between the New York Mets and the San Diego Padres. It repeated in my head like a broken record: Ya gotta believe. Ya gotta believe. Ya gotta believe.
I first became interested in soccer because I’m an early riser who was looking for stuff to do on a Saturday morning. I was flipping through the channels looking for something to watch and settled on a game on NBC between Watford and Manchester United. While I could tell pretty quickly that Watford was the huge underdog in the game, I was immediately struck by the roar of their crowd.
The start of classes signals the return of fall sports. Here’s all you need to know about Cornell’s return to the field.
When I look back on my three years on the Hill, my experience at The Sun will be one of my defining memories. I believe that the one defining vote from my freshman-year election at BC set me on a new path. My foray into journalism has given me so much in the form of skills, friendships and ultimately, unforgettable experiences.
Toward the end of March, The Cornell Daily Sun published an article written by Anna Hooper ‘25 on the Cornell Women’s Rowing team’s performance at the Doc Hosea Invitational. While seemingly innocuous, the points in the article that implied how the team supposedly performed poorly feel out of touch, as someone very familiar with the team. I once again find myself pleading for all to be kinder to student athletes and recognize their achievements. While I’ve discussed this subject before, I’d like to share more about what it truly means to be a student-athlete, and why articles like this aren’t an accurate depiction of where a team is currently at.
Sports aren’t just about performance in terms of times or standings; those are merely a goal. Athletes simply spend too much time for a medal or a trophy to be the sole driving factor behind why we participate in our sports.
The general Cornell attitude is that student-athletes should be treated just as any student would be. On the surface, this statement makes sense, yet our peers are often the least supportive of any additional needs that student-athletes have. I’ve been told by several naive peers that student-athletes think they’re better than the rest of the student body; this idea is a pervasive one that exists across campus. In my experience, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Students from various sports teams discuss the thrills and challenges of returning to regular practice and competition schedules this fall.
When I see the six players in red and white on the ice, I see my fellow Cornellians, past and present, known and unknown to me, with whom I’ve shared the Cornell tradition. College sports are mechanisms to uplift the campus community, and unite its students — who otherwise diverge into a wide spread of interests — behind one common goal. For those of us primarily immersed in Cornell’s academics, sports are a healthy outlet to engage with our community. In its attempt to build a more academically inclined, intellectual campus, Cornell should look to invest more in its sports programs.