Seventy percent of the students in the Parker Upper School are students by day and athletes by 4:30 (unless they happen to have a late practice that day). With the wide majority of interest in athletics at Parker, the Athletics Department, coaches, captains, and other members of the Parker community work together to provide the best experience for the athletes. The 2021-22 school year marks the return of sports in a newly vaccinated world. 

Keeping the student-athletes, the coaches, and the school community safe is at the forefront of the Athletics Department’s priorities while it navigates the 2021-22 school year. In addition to masks, social distancing, and cancellations, the Athletics Department has to constantly adjust procedures, protocols, and guidelines. “We are doing a good job, but it is difficult to run programs during a pandemic,” Athletic Director Bobby Starks said. “We always want to be three or four steps ahead, but with COVID, medium to long-term planning is very challenging.”

The Athletics Department offers a fall season, winter season, and spring season for student-athletes to participate in. There are six fall sports, three winter sports, and five spring sports offered. 

The return to three seasons is something that is different from last year when there was a newly created summer season due to the coronavirus, and the return has made the Athletics Department feel like pre-COVID-19 years. “Our teams have had a good return to what we almost felt like was normal. Our coaches and our kids are thriving because of it,” Starks said. 

Starks believes that there have been positive and negative alterations made due to the coronavirus. “COVID has completely changed not only our Athletics Department but sports in general,” he said. 

The Athletics Department has begun to utilize filming, Zoom, and live-streaming to accommodate virtual spectators. Starks believes that the newly-utilized accessibility to footage is a positive change to come out of the pandemic. “We were fortunate to be able to get that secure,” Starks said. “First, we did our own live-streaming in-house and now we have the NFHS Network.”

Scheduling also looks different in the Athletics Department this year with an unprecedented number of cancellations. The Athletics Department manages conference games and non-conference games while also trying to schedule as many competitions as possible. Assistant Director of Athletics Cynthia Klucznyk believes that the cancellation of games has created a logistical challenge and that flexibility is necessary for success. “We adapt, we overcome,” Klucznyk said. 

The 2021-22 school year has seen an uptick of student-athletes participating in the athletics program. This school year has given student-athletes the opportunity to be back playing their respective sports with a newfound sense of normalcy. “Our student-athletes who are playing through these tough times and still playing the sports they love, as well as more participation, are the best part of athletics this year,” Starks said. 

The Athletics Department meets with the Student Athletic Council (SAC) once a week to collect feedback, discuss future events, and decide how to best help the student body. The Student Athletic Council is led by two SAC heads, senior Jackson Antonow and senior Ava Rosenberg, and is composed of two representatives per grade and three media managers. 

“Both of our SAC heads have had some great ideas and great visions of what they want to accomplish this year,” Starks said. “They have done the hard work of planning, as well as coming in and working on ‘this is our vision and this how we need to execute it.’” 

This year, SAC revamped the student versus staff game, held a volleyball game between the girls volleyball team and the boys soccer team, planned homecoming and the White-Out game, as well as worked on other events. “The most notable change is that we now have an event per season that is dedicated to the student body,” Rosenberg said. “We are also trying to speed up the process of captain voting and getting team items.”

Rosenberg is also continuing to try to establish equal attendance for the boys and girls games as well as equal promotion of the games. “Inherently, I know everything should be equal for girls and guys, but how to do that and how to get that message across to the student body has been a challenge because I will try to plan it, but nothing will happen,” Rosenberg said.

SAC Media Manager and girls basketball captain, senior Elsie Rattner, agrees with Rosenberg. “I definitely struggled with trying to have the girls team get as much recognition and supporters as the boys team which will always sort of be an issue,” Rattner said, “I am proud of the work we have done, but there are still things that we can switch.”

Klucznyk said that the Athletic Department and SAC have open communication. “We bring ideas, student-athletes bring concerns, and we’re able to meet together to continue to work with each other to meet the needs of our student-athletes,” Klucznyk said. 

“I enjoy working with the student-athletes, especially those on the SAC committee, who help us drive what we are doing year to year because they are the biggest connection to the student body at large,” Starks said. 

The Athletics Department also meets with the captains of each team weekly during their seasons. “The captains are the conduits between the Athletics Department, the coaching staff, and the student-athletes,” Starks said, “They give us all of the information and ideas that maybe we do not hear or miss. They also have a different perspective which is really important.”

Rattner has enjoyed the weekly meetings and working with the Athletics Department. “The communication with the Athletics Department has been pretty strong this year with things like team items, planning, game times, and locations,” Rattner said. 

Boys basketball captain junior Payton Pitts says one of the biggest challenges he has faced as a captain this year is the lack of experience playing varsity due to COVID-19. The current captains, Antonow and Pitts, are the only two members of the team who have played a full varsity season. “We try to explain to the other players what it really takes to win at this level and how much dedication and focus we need at practice to defeat our opponents,” Pitts said, “we have had a really tough schedule this year, so highlighting that has been a big thing for us this season.”

“The team that makes the best and quickest adjustments usually wins the game, so we need to hear what is happening and continue to make improvements,” Starks said, “so the captains’ feedback to our department is critical to the success of the season. Our captains have done an awesome job in providing important information on a weekly basis.” 

The Athletics Department is also in close contact with the coaching staff. “I think that the relationship with our coaches is awesome,” Starks said. “Our job, as an Athletics Department, is to support the coaches and give them everything they need to be successful in their jobs which is managing the well being of our student-athletes and all of the logistics that come along with the program.” 

Girls basketball and softball coach Syngleatiki Kontodiakos has been a coach at Parker for three years. “The Athletics Department is very helpful in regards to informing the coaching staff of any new information or changes that affect our team,” Kontodiakos said. “Especially with COVID, our Athletics Department is doing the best they can as information and protocols are constantly changing.”

Throughout the season, the coaches are in constant communication with the captains and the Athletics Department and are dedicated to their teams. “Similar to players, during the season I see my students and players more than my own family, but my passion for the sport and my team supersedes all of the ‘behind the scenes work’ that the student body would not necessarily recognize or notice,” Kontodiakos said. 

“We have a group of hard-working, professional, caring adults that are working really hard and put a lot of time and effort in so our student-athletes can have the best and most effective experience,” Starks said. 

Before taking on the role of Assistant Athletic Director, Klucznyk was a coach for the girls softball team. In her first year as Assistant Athletic Director, Klucznyk has appreciated the collaboration between the coaches, student-athletes, the Athletics Department, as well as athletic administrators from other schools. “Klucznyk has been a great addition to the Athletics Department and is super receptive to the things we ask for help with,” Rattner said. “I have definitely noticed a big change, and that has been good.”

The Athletics Department believes they are doing everything that they can to support every sport and maintain equality between all of the different sports. “No matter the records, and no matter the stats, each and every student-athlete, and each and every sport is equally important to our department,” Klucznyk said. “We have a very strong supportive community here and the support of which keeps us going.” 

Starks collects feedback and has an open-door policy for all students, coaches, and parents to provide them with the best and safest experience. “Every student-athlete wants something different, so I hope that everyone who participates has the positive experience they want to have,” Starks said, “I want our student-athletes to know that we are here to support them.”