Sammie Hardy ’11
Web Sports Editor

This upcoming Saturday a years old tradition will finally return back to Staples and be celebrated by under-class men, upper-class men, and the every popular “senior girls.” Students of all ages will pile into the Staples bleachers at 10 AM this Saturday, for a homecoming celebration.

However, this homecoming the crowd may be a little different then past years. Instead of the large amount of senior girls, and senior guys joining together to celebrate their last homecoming, some have other things to focus on.

Along with the Staples varsity football team, the girls’ soccer team, girls’ field hockey team, and the boys cross country team all have their own competitions to attend. For some, making the game will not be an issue but instead of enjoying the rest of the homecoming day, they have prior engagements.

Senior captain of the Staples girls’ soccer team, Shannon Moss states, “It puts a damper on homecoming because I have to be focusing on my game the whole time instead of enjoying the experience.”

To moss, the challenge of having a game the same day as homecoming is “finding the energy to focus on the game you are about to play, not the one you are watching.”

Unlike Moss, a member of the girls’ field hockey team comments on how it shouldn’t totally ruin your homecoming day.

“Our game sort of puts a downer on my homecoming plans, but not significantly. Since the game is so early in the morning all the students have the rest of the day to be doing things. My game won’t matter since the whole day is going to be filled with Staples spirit,” Blaney Rotanz ’12 said.

For some students however, even making the homecoming game has been an ongoing issue for years. For the boys cross-country team, members have barley even experienced the homecoming game at all.

Senior captain Ben Aldrich ’11 states, “Every year we have had a meet on homecoming. Until this year I was able to make it back for the second half, but with the time change things are different now.”

For students like Aldrich and Moss, their senior homecoming will unfortunately not be what they expected. However, the senior class is not the only class that is affected by same game schedules.

“Our coach has not done anything about it nor will he, nobody on the team is happy about it. It’s not just about the seniors either, the freshman miss their first homecoming which is not right,” Aldrich said.

Besides the obvious lack of focus on the homecoming celebrations from students from all grade levels, some un-spoken athletes have never been able to experience homecoming the way most of student body has.

The Staples varsity football team members celebrate homecoming in a different way, and this Saturday will be the last celebration for some. Leaving some room for regret, and curious feeling.

“I have always wondered what it would be like to be apart of the crowd, but there is nothing like playing in front of the whole school,” senior captain Ryan Burke said.

This Saturday there will be a different vibe at the legendary homecoming game. Due to the significant amount of games scheduled on the same day, seniors, freshman, and students of all ages will be pre-occupied with their athletic teams.

However, most students in Staples like Aldrich believe, “it’s just not right.”