Brock Dunn, Interim Head of School, hoped to start a cross country team in the fall but the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) will not allow it.
“OSAA has restrictions that I’m still looking for clarification on but they make it so we can not have a cross country team,” said Dunn.
OSAA is a non-profit organization that schedules and deals with high school sports and activities in Oregon. Northwest Academy is an associate school meaning its students participate in other public schools’ sports teams. NWA doesn’t teach classes or provide sports that OSAA arranges so the school is not eligible for full membership.
Making matters more difficult, if Northwest Academy started a cross country team students would not be able to compete for other schools’ sports teams.
“Once we offer something, we are now a school that offers athletics, and therefore, none of our kids can do other things at other places,” said Dunn.
Classes offered at NWA like dance, yoga and Tai Chi are not considered sports under the umbrella of OSAA. Sports like volleyball and flag football are also not a part of OSAA, meaning the school could possibly offer them if it had the right facilities.
Public schools in Oregon are required to allow students from non-sports schools to play on their neighborhood high school team. For example, if a student lives in the jurisdiction of Cleveland High School and goes to NWA, the school therefore would be required to let them join their team.
“Their district is their neighborhood school,” said Morgan Kunze, Chief of Staff. “So if you live in the Southeast, it might be Cleveland and if you live in the Northeast, it might be Grant.”
Anthony Casuga, a student who was interested in the cross country team, expressed how the team could have been about more than just athletics.
“It was going to be kind of like a bonding experience with me and my friends,” said Casuga. “Maybe an opportunity to meet some upperclassmen, but oh well, that’s just how some stuff goes.”
Interest from both students and parents spurred Dunn to look into NWA’s options and start reaching out to potential members and coaches.
“And so we were exploring whether that became a running club or a running team, and the idea of having an athletic team at our sort of incredibly artsy and incredibly quirky place, just was really cool and super exciting to a few of us,” said Dunn.
Dunn was so hopeful about this team he took the liberty to design what could have been their uniforms: black with orange and white lettering and of course an angry pigeon in the center.
Cross country has very little equipment needs which makes it a more accessible sport for schools.
“That’s the beauty of cross country,” said Dunn. “If we’re gonna start a hockey team, we need ice and if we’re gonna start a basketball team, we need a court. All you need for cross country is sneakers.”
If the school did decide to start a cross country team NWA would be competing against smaller schools instead of public or largely sport-based schools.
“It would be really different for a student who’s running track at Cleveland and now they’re competing against another school that only has 200 kids; it’s just a different vibe,” said Kunze.
Students believe that this team could have been the first step to diversify NWA sports.
“I think it would have been a really good idea for it to happen because I know our school isn’t very sporty but we have lots of dance classes and dancing isn’t for everyone,” said Teagan Groves, a freshman at NWA.
