Most parents feel proud if their kids are on a soccer, football or basketball team. But there are many other sports that Troy High offers which many students and parents are not so aware of. Troy High has many students who are passionate about sports and want to participate in them during their four years here. However, not all sports are well-known and these lesser-known sports should be brought to the attention of students so they might develop interest in them.

Some of these lesser-known sports include sailing, rugby and girl’s ice hockey. All of which are currently taking place at Troy High, yet lack regular student recognition.

Each of these sports take place in different seasons of the school year. Girls ice hockey taking place during winter, sailing taking place during fall, and rugby taking place during the spring season.

Students could find interests in sports even if they do not consider themselves to be athletic. Junior sailing captain, Monika Torkos has advice for students who want to get into sailing.

“If you want to join, I’d say go for it, we have a lot of people there who aren’t athletic”.Torkos said, “You don’t have to be athletic to actually participate in the sport, just come out and try it. Be ready to learn about the sport and all the boats and just to make a bunch of new friends because in the sport everyone there is basically family.”

There is also more to a sport than only competitions. Professor at Oakland University and coach of Troy High rugby team, Rob Anderson explains how rugby is more than just a sport.

“One of the things that I think is really distinctive about rugby as a sport is that it’s not just a sport, it’s a culture, and the players who get involved in rugby and play for a long time actually come to love culture rugby as much as the sport, and part of the culture is it’s a sport that’s built on respect.” Anderson said.

There are many key takeaways these sports can teach to students. Ice hockey coach, Joseph Moceri mentions the skills the sport can teach students and how it implements these skills in their daily lives, too.

“The skills that it teaches are strength, endurance, conditioning, perseverance, teamwork, decision making and it also teaches you to not give up.” Moceri said.

Sports can also come with helpful advice for people who want to participate. Moceri gives advice for going into girl’s ice hockey:

“I would give them the advice to train hard, practice a lot, never give up, always keep on trying, there’s always something you can learn, even the professional hockey players, they still have people that train them and work with them all the time.”

By acknowledging these sports, students would be able to take challenges in trying out new athletic opportunities to see if they’re a good fit for them. All sports require teamwork, hard work and dedication, which is a life learning experience for everyone.

Trying out a new sport can help students venture outside their boundaries to learn something new. They never know that might become their passion and they may have the opportunity to play at a higher level in the future, too.