By Cooper Harrison, Staff Writer
As the 2023-2024 school year starts for El Camino, the school currently sits at division three with other teams around the area such as EC’s rivals, Rio Americano High School. Due to the low amount of students that are playing sports and the schools overall win-loss ratio, EC is going to be moving down to division four as of next school year. This will change the teams EC goes up against, hopefully creating a more even competition level for the school.
New Athletic Director Stephanie Saylors explained that the change of divisions is going to have its pros and cons.
“With moving down a division it is going to go sport by sport and affect each one differently. Like my girls softball team, we will still be playing some tough ranked teams even with the new division,” Saylors stated.
The new division is gonna be a relief for some teams and also a good challenge for others. Having the opportunity to play against schools that demonstrate a similar skill level to EC, Saylors also believes it could bring out more students to support and even compete.
“If sports begin to win more and succeed it will hopefully boost morale for viewers. Some students might see this and feel more confident to join a sport and play,” Saylors said.
If the school’s win to loss ratio starts to see a positive change EC could see a rise in supporters coming out to each game and as well as more students wanting to play and compete in sports.
Javanna Pedigo (24’), who has played girls basketball for four years and girls volleyball for three years, thinks that the division change will be different for each sport’s competitive level.
“The new division might be too easy, but some sports have been needing the change and to go down a level,” Pedigo said.
Some sports may not be looking forward to the drop of divisions but some teams will be, as it will hopefully present more evenly challenged match ups and help the school succeed.
Pedigo then also explained how sports at EC has been having a huge problem with a shortage of active players.
“Sports teams definitely lack players, such as my basketball team who barely had enough players for one team,” Pedigo stated.
The division drop next year will hopefully benefit the school by helping boost morale and confidence in students to play and come out to support. By gaining more players and having more teams overall, sports will have a stronger presence at EC, which could lead to a climb in divisions in the future.
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