Some CHS athletes play sports in order to skip P.E. during 10th-12th grade, while others play sports because they genuinely have a passion for it. However, team managers do not perform in sports at all, raising the question of whether or not they are qualified enough to receive the same amount of credits as a student playing a sport does.

P.E. credits are a necessity to graduate from high school. Students are granted five P.E. credits for every semester of P.E. they take and 2.5 credits for every sports season they are involved in. However, team managers are given the exact same amount of credits as an athlete during a season would gain even though they are not physically active or participating. This is unfair to athletic students who are physically involved in a sport because managers are easily given credits that they do not necessarily deserve.

There is nothing wrong with being a team manager, but that does not change the fact that the qualifications for P.E. credits are clearly flawed. The whole point of P.E. credits is to make sure that students are physically moving their bodies to maintain a healthy balance throughout high school. Students who are not taking P.E. or involved in sports are clearly not physically active, and therefore, it is absurd that they are receiving the same amount of credits for being a team manager.

One might argue that they were unable to make the sports team that they had eagerly wanted to be a part of and being a team manager was the only solution, or they were injured and could not participate in P.E. at all. While these reasons are completely valid, it still does not change the fact that other people are actually physically putting in the work to earn those credits.

Some believe that team managers should receive as much credit as students who participate in sports do while others disagree, and others have their own opinions on the subject, such as sophomore Brendan Matos.

“I feel as though they [team managers] do contribute. Personally, I don’t feel as though they should get all 2.5 as to say maybe two even because they do a lot of physical work to help us, and they do learn how to take care of us physically. I feel as though P.E. credits, considering it’s physical education, they do learn how to do physical activities like we do,” Matos said. “But in terms of physical activity, no, I don’t think so. But it is physical education and it isn’t an athletic credit as to say. It’s more physical education; it’s learning about team organization and your body.”

Team management should not be held to the same standard as an athlete due to the obvious differences in between the two, but in no way should it be frowned upon. It is just that they should not be given P.E. credits the same way an athlete is given P.E. credits because team management defies the whole term of physical education. The idea is similar to having a dog. One gives their dog a treat for doing a trick, not for sitting around watching other dogs do tricks.