Braswell Administration cancels senior kickball tournament
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
Late Tuesday afternoon, the Braswell administration canceled the highly anticipated 2023 Senior Kickball Tournament due to concerns that the playing fields would be too muddy or wet to safely carry out gameplay.
“I know many are disappointed, as am I,” Dr. Anna Seibert, faculty, said in a post on the Class of 2023 Braswell High School Parent group on Facebook. “The decision is in the best interest of all involved.”
Seibert’s post has been host to several comments from parents of seniors who are concerned that the administration’s actions were premature.
“Kickball should have been simply moved to the same location as the football game, aka the turf field, to guarantee a successful event” , Shannan Macias, parent, said in a comment under the original post announcing the cancellation. “These kids were passionate about their activity of choice. The school admins should appreciate that and simply relocate it.”
Other parents in the Facebook group voiced concerns about their students’ disappointment, as well as the time and money previously invested in preparation for the event.
“Kickball during school hours is something the seniors were looking forward to… because it was during the school day,” Jennifer Anderson Bigley, parent, said in the 2023 parents’ Facebook group. “Whoever canceled this needs to know our kids are disappointed and now feel like they have wasted precious time coordinating practices and making team t-shirts.”
We were mainly looking forward to just having one last time to have fun playing sports with one another because we’ll never get that chance again.
— Nick Farley, 12
Braswell students expressed similar thoughts immediately after the cancellation announcement.
“I took a lot of time trying to network and find people to join my team,” Enya Thompson, 12, said. “It was a lot of coordinating and planning and we were looking forward to it, and I feel like all of that went to waste when the tournament was canceled.”
Students like Napoleon Herrera, 12, had participated in the 2022 Kickball Tournament a semester prior, and had high expectations leading up to the tournament.
“For me, as well as I’m sure the other participants, it was just sad and disappointing considering how hyped up it was and how much everyone wanted to play,” Herrera said. “I think it could’ve been planned better, or possibly have been rescheduled to the weekend so that the people that wanted to play, still could.”
Echoing similar sentiments, Jada Inanga, 12, expressed her disappointment over the cancellation.
“It’s disappointing because as a senior that’s been dedicated to school throughout this year, I feel like we should be rewarded,” Inanga said. “That was one of the many things I was looking forward to and I’m very sad about it being canceled. I feel like we deserved that day to have fun and celebrate with our peers.”
Braswell will follow the normal bell schedules. Seniors will still be eligible for off-campus lunch during third period, as long as their parent permission slip form was turned in by the due date, and seniors will be given the opportunity to have free Kona Ice during second period – all seniors must have their student ID with them. Seniors will report to their regular schedule first through fifth.
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Kaitlynn Taylor • May 17, 2023 at 10:15 am
We, as seniors, haven’t been rewarded with much this year. It seems the school doesn’t care about the 4 years of hard work we have been doing. Now that it’s about to end, we just want to have fun together. Having the kickball tournament during school would’ve probably been the highlight of the year.
kalynn • May 17, 2023 at 5:16 pm
I 100% agree, it’s our last year of high-school and they are restricting us from the break we deserve. Instead we just get to sit in a class on our phone wasting time.
kalynn • May 17, 2023 at 10:08 am
Personally, many of the Senior events were none that brought much excitement to me. When we were supposed to have this Kickball Tournament, I was actually looking forward to it. I even went out the day of and noticed there wasn’t mud anywhere to be found. I find it very disappointing and wished they thought a little bit more about the students because this is our last year in high-school and we weren’t given many opportunities for great memories. Side note, for the powder puff, i have yet seen a school play against grades below Junior Class. I don’t understand why seniors wouldn’t stay playing against Juniors and let the other classes get their chances when they are in the right class.
Enya Thompson • May 17, 2023 at 12:19 pm
Right, not a drop of mud in sight
Jackson Baker • May 17, 2023 at 9:19 am
Great thoughts! I like the speedy delivery for this actively developing story and enjoyed reading your article!