Save Our Sports: Do It In Style
By: Kellen Foster
Tags: Climate Change, Electric Vehicles, High School Sports

Electric school bus, photo by Charles Benoit on electrek.co

With schools back in session for the 2020–21 year, many students, athletes especially, are missing many of the aspects of senior high that made it fun. In a year absent of the glory of the homecoming game, the cheers after a walk-off home run, or the routine of daily practices, high school athletes have a lot to miss.

There is one thing, however, that many athletes would be happy to leave behind when the age of masks and social distancing is over: crappy commuting. Take it from me: when I wrestled for Patrick Henry High School between 2016 and 2020, we never enjoyed the simple luxury of a bus taking us from place to place. Instead, we were forced to endure the chaos of carpooling. I remember every Friday night after a long practice, we would be exhausted, sweaty, and smell like the inside of a shoe, but would still have to scramble to find out whose mom would drive us to the tournament the next day.

Once we were stuffed like sardines into some freshman mom’s Honda Civic, we would limp down the highway desperately trying to keep up with the caravan of equally packed cars. And of course, somebody always got lost!

If you have been crammed into a backseat as the largest people on your team crush you from both sides, then you would agree with me that this “system” is chaotic, stressful, and uncool. Nobody wants to be the team scrambling out of a clown car in front of the opposition!

“You can’t get comfy, there’s just not enough space for everyone… It’s not a great way to start the morning.” -Logan “LogiBear” Kalica, PHHS Wrestling Team

Have you ever felt like this? Photo from dailymail.co.uk

There has to be another way.

Fortunately for all of us, the age of pinched arms and scrunched knees may be coming to an end: electric busses are being used more and more across the country. In California, the state government has allocated $94 million to replace old school busses with new electric ones, and Virginia is not far behind, implementing a new electric bus model earlier this year.

With electric batteries becoming cheaper and more efficient, these busses will become more and more commonplace, especially in California. Imagine having one of these bad boys for your sports team. Imagine the security of knowing how you will get a ride to your next game, imagine the freedom of all the elbow room, imagine the freedom of not wearing a seatbelt! Dare I say that the drive to the big game might be fun?

But that’s not all, these electric busses are special because they also produce no carbon emissions, which is great for the environment.

Why does it always come back to the environment?

I know, I know, between school, homework, and our sports, we hardly have time to worry about our carbon footprint or how somehow if we stop eating meat then the world will heal. So I will keep this brief, here is what you need to know:

Carbon emissions are on a dramatic rise according to the leading scientist on the issue 13% of those emissions are caused by cars and vehicles These emissions are trapping a lot of heat This heat is causing fires at record levels More fires mean more teams can’t compete even after COVID goes away

Massive fires and choking smoke rage in Orange County. Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register

So in short, it’s about the environment because these fires have been shutting down sporting events and threatening communities throughout California. Just this summer, my neighborhood had an evacuation scare because of a large fire that went uncontained for several days, and Orange County had to close all athletic activities when blankets of smoke coated the area. If this continues, a time where it may be too dangerous to do anything outside may be nigh.

“I got up and looked around… the smoke was so thick I thought my house might be on fire” -Jeff Bailey, Yobra Linda Football Coach the night before practices were canceled

So what can we do?

I think we can kill two birds with one stone. Patrick Henry High School can not only spearhead an effort to cut back emissions, but we could also end crappy commuting! We, as a team, can collectively demand our principal to provide an electric bus to the athletic program, citing both the environmental and comfort based concerns. We can reach out to other teams at the school who also have crappy commutes to amplify our call. Once we achieve this, we can demonstrate to other schools that electric busses are a more clean, manageable, and comfortable alternative to the nightmares of carpooling. Once San Diego Unified School District and beyond catch on, we will have created a change that makes our communities safer, and we’ll get a sweet new ride for our troubles.