With the start of the 2018-2019 school year, Stamford High school has already seen a fair number of changes in regard to athletics. To name a few: a new athletic director, free admission to all home football games, and now, a required online registration process that ensures an athlete’s eligibility to play. Toward the top of the list of ongoing alterations, the seasonal Sports Awards, and its mysterious disappearance.

For a number of years now, Stamford High has traditionally recognized its athletes each season with a well deserved night of speeches from coaches, followed by the distribution of awards. As winter sports teams now kick off their seasons, Stamford High’s fall sports teams can’t help but wonder the cause for the award ceremony’s disappearance, as well as whether there will be an alternative or replacement event.

Field hockey captain Julia Chappell said, “I’m really upset about the sports awards being canceled. I had been looking forward to finally being recognized in front of my teammates and peers at this event as a senior.”  

Although the award ceremonies disappearance may seem like a minor change, many athletes who have experienced the commitment to a sport for a full four years now feel robbed of the honorary experience they saw their own senior captains receive while they were just starting out as a freshman.

Cross Country Captain Timothy Tu said, “The award ceremonies were there when I first started playing sports, and it was always nice to be celebrated and recognized for my time and commitment. It’s a shame they aren’t around for my last experience with the team as a senior.”

As for the coaches, who were also given a final chance to acknowledge their athletes stellar seasons through the event, this disappearance is seemingly just as concerning. Boys soccer coach Michael Summa said, “it is unfortunate that the kids can’t get the recognition that they deserve amongst their peers; the event would have given them a chance to be celebrated by their own teammates and their friends on other teams as well.”

In light of the distress the award ceremonies disappearance has caused recently, athletes can now only hope that The Athletic Council and the new athletic director will work together to find an alternative way to recognize teams, or to bring back the original crowd-pleaser of past seasons.