Lessons in sports
Athletics teaches more than just sportsmanship
By Joan Tupponce CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Page Dowdy/Chesterfield Observer Ethan Radtke (from left), Eric Morgan and Stan McGarrity, all members of the James River High School soccer team, participate in the Going the Distance Run sponsored by the school's Athletes Who Care Club. The run raised funds to help repair Richmond's A.V. Norrell Elementary, which was damaged by flooding in Battery Park.

Coach Gary Gaines didn't know anything about James River High School until students in Pete Schumacher's Sports In Literature class invited him to speak to their class.

The students learned about Gaines, who coaches the Permian High School Panthers in Odessa, Tx., when they read the novel, "Friday Night Lights," the story of a town obsessed with football.

"I wanted to make literature come alive so I asked my students to write to anyone they would like to speak to our class," explained Schumacher. "Gaines wrote back, and now he will be coming to our class on Jan. 24. We are trying to raise money for his flight here."

An English teacher and baseball coach at James River High School, Schumacher along with Tracy Hamner, a former coach and teacher at James River, proposed the idea of the Sports in Literature class as a new elective.

"We wanted kids to fall in love with reading by giving them something that interested them," Schumacher said. "There are tons of kids who love sports books and sports stories. There are so many lessons to be learned from sports, and so many topics to be discussed."

The course debuted last year with a total of 90 students enrolled in three sections.

"It turned out to be one of our most popular electives," Schumacher said. "[The popularity of the course] made us feel like our theory was correct."

Sarah Hagan, now a senior at James River, took the class last year.

"When I looked at the electives, it was described as a class comprised of literature and athleticism," she recalled. "I swim yearround, and I like to read so it was the best of both worlds. It turned out to be an amazing class."

One of the goals of the class is to get students to think and read critically.

"We want them to understand the lessons sports figures have learned and/or the lessons that came out of sports," Schumacher explained.

Last year, students read three sports-related novels.

"We supplement that with different units," Schumacher said. "In one unit we look at coaches and their speeches. We read them as literature. Another unit deals with sports as a healer, how sports can lift up an individual. We also talk about the rise of the African- American athlete. We talk about athletes such as boxers Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali."

Interest in the class led students to form the club, James River High School Athletes Who Care.

"We hoped the class would increase school spirit by showing that what the athletes are doing has importance," Schumacher said. "The class discussed how we could make James River a more spirited school. I've seen years where people didn't come out and support the team. That discussion led to the formation of the club."

Students in the club were "determined to change the world."

"We wanted to abolish the 'dumb jock' myth," Hagan said. "We wanted to give back to the community. And, we did."

In 2005, the club hosted a marathon, raising $9,000 to benefit the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.

"We couldn't go there to help, but we could run the distance and help people in New Orleans," Schumacher said. "Raising $9,000 the first time was unbelievable. It was the first time I had seen all of the athletes at school come together. It was exciting."

This past December, the club hosted the Going the Distance Run to help raise money to repair A.V. Norrell Elementary. The school was damaged by severe flooding in Richmond's Battery Park.

"We are pretty close to last year's amount, but we are still getting pledges in," Schumacher said.

After participating in the class and the club, Hagan says she has a new interest in sports.

"When I watch a football game, I don't just look at the plays," she explained. "Now I look at who is on the team and what their stories are. There is so much more that goes into it than what you see on television. After being in the class and learning about what an effect athleticism has on people's lives, it's hard to not notice."