You’re on the volleyball team, and your school just announced a new eight-period block schedule for next year. You’re ecstatic—now you have enough space to take that business class you were eyeing. However, you soon discover that this new schedule requires sports to take up two periods.
Instead of having more flexibility, you have less. Instead of gaining opportunities, you’re losing them.
This is the disappointing reality for Van Nuys High School student athletes under our new schedule. The whole point of switching to a block system was to give students more class options and greater flexibility.
For those in sports, it’s doing the exact opposite by shrinking their schedules, limiting their choices and forcing them into a rigid system that defeats the entire purpose of change.
The block schedule has literally become a blocked schedule.
The purpose of a block schedule is to grant students greater flexibility. With fewer but longer class periods per day, it should enable students to take a wider range of courses without feeling restricted. Instead, athletes are being told they must use two of their eight classes for sports, leaving less room for AP courses, electives and other interests.
For many students, this defeats the entire purpose of the schedule change. It makes one question the point of restructuring the school day if it only makes schedules more rigid for a large group of students.
Proponents of block scheduling propose that dedicating two periods to sports is beneficial for student athletes. A longer training block built into the school day allows for more time to practice, condition and recover without the need for late-night practices.
Supporters also suggest that this setup better prepares students who are serious about pursuing collegiate athletics by giving them a structured environment to improve their skills.
Although having more training time can benefit athletes, the problem is that block scheduling forces all student athletes into a rigid structure, whether they want it or not. Not every athlete intends to play in college, and many have other academic and extracurricular interests that are being pushed aside due to the two-period requirement.
If the goal is to support athletes while maintaining academic flexibility, we should consider making the second athletic period optional, or allowing athletes to substitute one of their periods with an academic independent study. This can entail taking an online, self-paced or dual enrollment class to open up more learning opportunities.
At the end of the day, student athletes shouldn’t have to choose between excelling in sports and pursuing their academic interests. A block schedule should create more opportunities, not limit them.
Supporting both academics and athletics requires a system that prioritizes flexibility, not one that forces students into an all-or-nothing choice.
