As the fall football season ends, the chill of winter settles into the Valley, and focus switches from football to practicing and anticipating winter sports.

“I just finished with football and now I am going into soccer,” Justin Shanen, ’04, said. “Its fun to play a lot of sports; its keeps me in shape.”

On campus there are about 284 students, and because of this, students are allowed to go out for a sport they have no basic knowledge of.

“This year I went out for volleyball, and I had never played before,” Joelle Grimes, ’06, said. “The coaches were really helpful to me, and they taught me how to play throughout the season.”

Sometimes it may seem that the coaches are a little too “helpful,” On campus, the coaches do not like their players to be involved in other sports due to the injury factor.

“I wasn’t very pleased when some of my girls participated in powderpuff,” Robert Foshee, varsity girls’ soccer coach, said. “I don’t want them to get hurt right before our tournament.”

A recent poll, which drew responses from over 208 campus students, revealed that over 43% play more than one sport a year.

At some large public schools, athletes are not allowed to play more than one sport, so competition to make the team is intense.

“At my school the sports are very competitive,” Angine Martirosian, junior at Clovis West, said. “If you make the team in junior high then you will make it in high school. If not, you’re out of luck.”

At a large public school of 2500 kids, often the coach decides which players are right for his team.

“On top of football, my boys are allowed to play other sports during the year,” Dave Barton, football coach at McLane, said. “I even encourage them to do so because it keeps them in shape.”

The expectation for playing sports can be very different at small public schools.

“At Buena Vista there are only 43 students,” Allen Tong, former FC teacher, said. “If the students want to play a sport, they have to organize the whole thing.” Tong spent 20 years on campus teaching math, before transferring to Buena Vista in 2002.

For more information about sports at FC, parents and students can contact the high school office at 299-1695 ext. 5.