At 1:56 P.M. on September 12th, Mr. Von Glahn was commentating on the pep rally at Cresskill High School, where he mentioned how Cresskill Sports were “dominant”. Shockingly, this led to many of the surrounding student athletes shaking their heads and laughing. This got me wondering how successful the Cresskill athletic department is in comparison to the other schools we face.
Cresskill has many different types of sports to offer. A popular sport is the boys football team.Mr. Quinn, the head coach of the football team, says that, “I think we’re in pretty good shape, now we’re 2-0, we play week to week, so I don’t really worry too much about other schools and what they’re doing. Our guys are working real hard. I don’t know if there’s any team working as hard as we are”. This is a shared perspective amongst the student body, as well as teachers in the school. Our football team has performed very well and has a very positive track record as well. Another aspect of sports that sets our school apart is our work ethic and focus, which is also reflected in the rest of the school. At Cresskill, students focus all their effort into improving themselves rather than worrying about how they stack up next to others, a good trait which is thankfully very prominent in our school.
On the other hand, another general consensus amongst the student body is that we are not consistently “dominant”. Ramond Garcia states how he thinks “Cresskill sports, every few years, can have a strong team that can make it far in the playoffs, but that happens every once in a blue moon”. This is where the tear in the crowd forms. Many think that our teams are consistently dominant, doing well in almost every season, while others think that our teams are rarely good in certain seasons. The teams have dropped down in the ranks in other seasons. This is backed up by statistics such as the majority (about 57% coming from a questionnaire) of students from other schools, when being asked about Cresskill’s consistency, stating that Cresskill is a rather inconsistent team, having very high highs, and very low lows. However, this current season appears to be a promising one. The boys football team has a 2:1 record as of now, and the boys soccer team has lost four games, but won five! The girls soccer team has an exceptional record, only having lost two of their 7 games, and the girls tennis team has an identical record. The volleyball team has been off to a rocky start, with a 3:7 record, but recent games have been promising. Our sports are suggesting a good start for our school!
Although Cresskill’s athletic department may not have the most consistent track record, there is one thing we have that other schools don’t: immeasurable work ethic. All of the athletes I’ve interviewed talked about how Cresskill works very hard to better themselves, especially in high school-spirit sports like football, and this has built up a hardworking reputation for Cresskill, one that has even been recognized by other students from different schools. Cresskill sports are different each year, for better or for worse, but there is one thing that cannot be taken from us, and that is our tremendous work ethic. So, to answer the question of whether Cresskill sports are dominant, the honest answer would be, in football, yes, but in most other sports, no. We have a good record in football, being known amongst other schools, but our other sports usually fall under the aforementioned “inconsistent” umbrella. But when our school gets the golden high that happens in our sports, such as what our current season is suggesting, there will be no stopping us!
