Teams juggle facility issues

The Aragon athletics department is steadily expanding, although the same cannot be said for its facility space. Different sports are forced to share training spaces, leading to scheduling conflicts. Meanwhile, conflicts for other sports largely stem from factors such as delayed construction.

The flag football team is the newest addition to the athletics department, and the flag football players play on the same field that football players usually use. 

“This is the first time we had to share the field with someone while we practice,” said junior football player Zachary Floresca. “But [it] hasn’t changed much besides when the practice happens.”

However, head football coach Steve Sell views this potential setback as a learning opportunity for the football team. 

“[Sharing a field] is a super positive thing for our football players,” Sell said. “Especially to see how serious [the flag football girls] are, and to see how hard they practice and compete.”

Sell also indicates that a second field will be beneficial for the students.

“Next year we’ll have a second field at the old baseball field,” Sell said. “[One team] can practice on the upper field, and [the other] can practice on the lower field … so nobody will have to go [home] late.”

While the football team adjusted easily to the introduction of flag football, the water polo teams had to put up with multiple construction delays, first for the resurfacing of the pool tiles and then for construction involving the filtration system. The repairs were not completed until the first week of September, well into the water polo season.

“We had no idea what was happening until the parents went to a board meeting and requested the district be more communicative,” said girls varsity water polo coach Kielan Crow.  “It was extremely frustrating for everybody: the coaches, the teams and especially the parents, who were frustrated with having an inconsistent schedule.”

“On all fronts, it’s essentially put us back by a month, out of the three months of the season.”

Senior boys water polo player Aryah Oztanir echoed Crow’s sentiment regarding the pool situation.

“Earlier this year was quite difficult because … we used different pools from other schools,” Oztanir said. “We ended up having to bounce back from Mills to San Mateo for different days of the week. It was [especially] difficult for our JV members who didn’t have a car to drive themselves, and traffic [was also an issue].”

The various issues that the water polo teams have had to work through have taken a toll on the amount of practice  time and overall performance this season. 

“On all fronts, it’s essentially put us back by a month, out of the three months of the season,” Crow said.

Despite the setbacks, both water polo teams expressed their strong resolve.

“We love water sports, otherwise, we wouldn’t do the sport,” Oztanir said. “The team is really tight with each other and we’re a really close-knit community, so it wasn’t as big of a deal in terms of how we practiced and how excited we were to practice. We were a little disappointed that our pool wasn’t ready in time, but we got around it and we practiced nevertheless.”

Aragon is reconstructing and refining parts of sports facilities, as seen with the flex field and the pool construction to avoid conflicts in the future.