05.22.13

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Wester n Oregon Univer sity’s Weekly student newspaper Since 1923 w w w. w o u . e d u / s t u d e n t / w e s t e r n j o u r n a l

Pete Strong | Polk County Itemizer-Observer

Monmouth Welcomes West Coast Pizza Company

Annie West | News Editor From Amanda’s Closet to Yeasty Beasty, Frozation Nation to Funky Bun, Monmouth has seen a surge in growth along Main Street over the last year. Now, following over a year of reconstruction, another venue has opened to the public: West Coast Pizza.

Located on the corner of Main St. and Monmouth Ave, West Coast, which is owned by best friends Will Mary and Matt Seely, and managed

by Travis Gordon, celebrated its grand opening on May 10.

The menu offered spans from by-the-slice pizza, whole pies, and specials, to wings, nachos, and breadsticks, while currently offering Pizza See Page 8

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

preview Campus Life SEP Celebrates Silver Anniversary See Page 2 Spring Term Brings Big Programs See Page 3

Entertaiment Movie Review: Iron Man 3 See Page 4 Western Drumline Marches for Strawberries See Page 5

Sports The Tim Tebow Law See Page 7

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Volume 13 Issue 24

2 Campus Life

May 22, 2013

SEP Celebrates Silver Have an idea Anniversary you think Ashley Casebeer | Campus Life Editor

This week marks the 25th anniversary of the Student Enrichment Program (SEP) at Western. In honor of this achievement, they will have a TRiO Day celebration on Thursday, May 23.

“TRiO” is a federally funded program implemented on different college campuses throughout the nation designed to assist low-income individuals, first-generation college students, and individuals with disabilities to progress through the academic timeline from middle school to postbaccalaureate programs. The program was born out of the “War on Poverty” era when reaching higher education wasn’t always an option for kids.

In the Monmouth/Independence area, the college level program is called the Student Enrichment Program. For students in high school, Upward Bound is the program name.

Seeing as it is the 25th anniversary, the theme for this year’s celebration is silver. To make this year even more special, the focus is not just on the 53 Western students graduating from this program, but of the thousands of graduates who participated in SEP in previous years, including some of the current Western staff. Sixteen high school Upward Bound students will also be recognized at this year’s TRiO Day celebration.

Marshall Guthrie, Interim Director of Western’s SEP program, talked about the goals of this TRiO program. “We really want to recognize the SEP students that have graduated and are graduating for all their hard work, but also to bring awareness to people on what SEP and Western do for our towns and states.”

Guthrie continued, “We really want to let our light shine and let people know what SEP and Upward Bound are doing.”

Throughout the nation, all SEP programs have the same goals, but are all targeted toward different populations.

First generation students, low-income families, and students with documented disabilities are all the target audience for Western’s incoming. Western has higher goals when it comes to these programs.

Each year they receive twice as many applicants as they give out positions.

Applicants who are accepted must keep up their academics, participate in the different SEP events on campus, complete the SEP classes, and meet with their advisor on a regular basis.

Student Luna Tesfagiorghis received SEP Student of the Year at the annual Leadership Recognition Night. During her time at Western, Tesfagiorghis has participated in the Summer Bridge program, Ambassadors, Summer Bridge Leaders, and Service Learning and Career Development Service Trip Leader.

“To be honest, I don’t think I would have been able to graduate this spring and be as connected and involved on campus if I had not been an SEP student.

The advisers Leticia, Don, Marshall and everyone else guided me to step out of my comfort zone and get involved as well as succeed academically. I can say

with a smile that SEP started me on the leadership path that I strive to improve after graduating,” said Tesfagiorghis.

The actual TRiO Day celebration will take the form of a special graduation for the families of the graduates. There will be an introduction from the Vice President of the University. Following the introduction will be a keynote speaker that has yet to be announced. Certificates and recognition awards will be given out to the SEP students and they will receive a light blue cord to wear at the June 15 graduation ceremony.

Guthrie made one last comment about this year’s TRiO Day, “This event is special because Western allows us to be successful and this is our way of recognizing that.”

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Campus Life 3

May 22, 2013

OPINION

Jodi Andersen | Photo Editor

Just Let Them Be

Kids

Stephanie Lane Sports Editor

BGB hall government and volunteers find time during “Boy Meets World” to snap a photo.

Spring Term Brings Big Programs Ashley Casebeer | Campus Life Editor

Spring term may be almost over, but the programs are far from it.

Spring term is always the busiest time of the year for programming; clubs and organizations all over campus spend much of their funds and time on making the students at Western have something fun to do on the weekends.

This year, five specific clubs have filled the season with fun activities for both on-campus and off-campus students.

Within the Residence Halls lies five organizations dedicated to making their buildings a better place to live.

Each hall (Heritage, Landers, Arbor Park, Barnum Butler Gentle (BGB), and Ackerman) have a group of volunteers who serve as the leaders of their building. They call themselves the hall governments. These hall governments are formed at the beginning of the school year and spend a lot of quality time planning their expected big spring term program called their traditionals.

Heritage has been putting on spring dances for many years now. Each year the group comes up with a great theme and this year’s was “Midnight in Paris.” The event took place on May 10 at the Salem Ballroom. Many Western students look forward to this dance because it resembles that of a collegelike prom.

Advising Resident Assistant

(ARA) Kelly Gray said, “Heritage hall government’s traditional went very well. Thanks to a great advertising team, most of the tickets were bought ahead of time, leaving little to no stress about sales or extra prepping at the dance. With great planning, everything was set up and organized perfectly with plenty of time to enjoy the night with friends.”

BGB chose a different route than what has been traditionally done. Their program theme followed the show “Boy Meets World.” On May 4, a cultural carnival/fair that consisted of a human gyroscope, and a whirlybird ride, food, prizes, gallery games, and even an educational component took place in the Grove.

ARA Kyle Rush showed great pride for his hall government’s hard work. “Our traditional this year went great! The hall government teamed up with many different organizations around campus both within the residence halls and beyond to bring together a huge successful event. The event was fun for all who attended and will be remembered by the students throughout the rest of their time at Western.”

Landers hall government had their traditional this last weekend. A “Landers Candy Carnival” was their

theme. They co-programmed with Weekend Wolfpack, Green Team, SAB, Triangle Alliance, and General Assembly. Another unique piece to their big program was that they used any donation money to give towards a youth outreach program in Salem called HOME Youth and Resource Center.

“One of our members thought it would be a good idea to try and raise money for an organization since we weren’t charging anybody for the event, and she had worked with the organization before,” said Jacob Matthews, ARA of Landers Hall Government.

Two hall governments are left to complete their big traditional program of spring term. These upcoming events to look for are Bunco programmed

by Arbor Park hall government and WOUstock by Ackerman hall government. Bunco will be on May 31, and is exactly as it sounds with many cool prizes. Following will be WOUstock on June 1, which usually has live music, tons of food, and other fun activities. If you would like more information on these programs you can contact the ARA’s of Arbor and Ackerman at cburchell09@wou.edu and pschofield09@wou.edu.

There seems to be a never-ending debate about the safety of today’s youth while participating in sports. One lawmaker seems to be, in my opinion, taking it too far.

Assemblyman Michael Benedetto introduced legislation to the New York Senate which would ban children under the age of 11 years from playing organized tackle football anywhere in the state. Seriously? I can’t believe things are going this far.

It starts with banning dodge ball, creating no-touch schools in states like Virginia and Arizona, and continues on with banning tackle football. Benedetto says he wants to protect children but if you really think about it, how much is this helping them?

Teaching a child to play flag football gets them used to different techniques than that of tackle. So is it better to have them learn one technique in middle school and/or high school, then make them change everything they’ve known? Any logical thinking person should be able to identify a few problems with that. Can we say lack of technique when hitting? More helmet to helmet contact leads to more concussions, do you see where this is going? How much more unsafe can this sound? Why would it not be safer to begin teaching youth to tackle the proper way at five or six years old so that they can continue to learn the correct technique through all of their years of participation?

I feel like a lawmaker has too much time on his hands while wanting to find some way for the government to control its people even more than they already do.

From articles I’ve read on this topic, it appears that the whole basis of this legislation is based on injuries incurred at the college and professional levels. I’m sorry if that is true… I have a wake up call for Mr. Benedetto.

A seven year old at 60 pounds soaking wet could never get the velocity behind an impact to cause the same damage as a 300-pound tight end could.

Let’s be real. The handful of injuries each youth football coach has seen is most likely a result of cheap equipment and boys being boys. Accidents happen and injuries happen. It’s part of the game, so get over it. It seems like every day our younger generations are getting softer and softer. We are turning children into wimps without even realizing it. Let the kids be kids, let them play the way we used to, and quit trying to protect their feelings and make everything they do all cushy and safe. They need a few things to shake them up. It’s all about the learning experience.

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4 Entertainment the

Journal staff

(503) 838-8347 editor-in-chief

ALEXA ARMSTRONG editor

@westernoregonjournal.com

news editor

ANNIE WEST awest

@westernoregonjournal.com

May 22, 2013

Iron Man 3 Isn’t Groundbreaking, But is Enjoyable as Always Patrick Willett | Freelancer

entertainment editor

LAVEN VOTH lvoth

@westernoregonjournal.com

campus life

ASHLEY CASEBEER acasebeer

@westernoregonjournal.com

sports editor

STEPHANIE LANE slane

@westernoregonjournal.com

copy editor

ASHLEY WRIGHT awright

@westernoregonjournal.com

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campus life & sports designer

Photo Courtesy | Paramount

LACEY SPILLMAN lspillman

@westernoregonjournal.com

news & entertainment deisgner

HAUNANI TOMAS htomas

@westernoregonjournal.com

photo editor

JODI ANDERSEN jandersen

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student media adviser

SHELBY CASE cases

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Summer seems to bring three things nowadays; unbearable heat, thousands of annoying insects and comic book superhero movies. It’s practically unavoidable; there are three coming out this summer alone. So what better way to start off this season than with “Iron Man 3,” the be-

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ginning of the second phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

And wow, is this one heck of a start.

In the aftermath of “The Avengers,” Tony Stark is suffering from anxiety attacks due to his near-death experience and is finding going back to the way things were is a little

difficult; battling an inter-dimensional army of aliens tends to do that. Throwing himself into his work isn’t helping, as its alienating those around him and pushing them away. And if some sort of existential identity crisis wasn’t enough, a terrorist calling himself the Mandarin has

been making attacks all over the country, and ends up severely injuring Tony’s friend and bodyguard. Driven by vengeance, Tony vows to find the Mandarin and take him down. But when he’s all alone without even his suits to help him, being hunted down by assassins infused with

a new bio-weapon called Extremis, he’s going to need to rely on his own wits and a few unlikely allies to save the day.

While initially this film appears to be far darker than the other “Iron Man” films, and in a way, it is, it manages to be just as fun and Iron Man See Page 8

Entertainment 5

Photo Courtesy | WOUD Facebook

May 22, 2013

sudoku

for your entertainment

Bethany Blancher | Freelancer March on over to Lebanon on June 1 at 11 bers, and it has grown to the current 11 mema.m. for the Strawberry Festival Grand Parade to bers. About half of the members are percussionwatch the Western Oregon University Drumline ists; and the other members are students who (WOUD). WOUD is a music ensemble which major in other instruments. It has been said that features Western students playing marching the reason why the non-percussionists joined is band style percussion. because WOUD was well promoted and soundAccording to WOUD leader, Ben Prothe- ed like it would be a fun ensemble. roe, the creation of this ensemble was inspired They are excited to perform in the Lebaby the fact that this school didn’t have any type non Strawberry Festival Grand Parade on June of marching group, despite the fact that most 1, which starts at 11 a.m. on Santiam Hwy in colleges have some form of marching group Lebanon. It goes north along Hwy 20 to Rose even when they don’t happen to have an actual St., then west of Rose St. where it will disband marching band. Protheroe took the opportunity onto 3rd and 5th streets. The parade is two and a to use the percussion equipment Western already half miles long, and is free to all. For those out owned, and formed the WOUD. there who love marching bands, this is an event The group started last year with four mem- that can’t be missed.

Journal

the

Western Drumline Marches for Strawberries

announces its staff for the 2013-2014 school year:

Stephanie Lane Editor-in-Chief

Laura Kundson Managing Editor

Allison Opson-Clement News Section Editor

Katherine Drew

Campus Life Section Editor

Amanda McMasters Entertainment Section Editor

Iain Dexter

Sports Section Editor

Marissa Thompson Copy Editor

Victoria Gannon Photo Editor

Kelsey Ferdinard Advertising Manager

Jordan Salazar Web Manager

Laura Walmer Caitlin Martin-Frost Haunani Tomas Page Layout Designers

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6 Sports Just Another Team?

Brian Mahuna Sports Columnist

After the buzzer sounded to end the deciding game in the Knicks and Pacers series, all eyes turned towards Wednesday night, where the Indiana Pacers, fresh off of defeating the New York Knicks in six games, would line up against the defending champion Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.

These two teams played last year, and it took LeBron James to go into super hero mode for the Heat to escape Indiana’s hopes for an upset birth. The series was a tough one for both teams, both physically and mentally. It got a little nasty at times and it only solidified the point that these two teams just do not like each other.

Rewind a little bit, back to the regular season. Where the Pacers beat the Heat around the midway point. The Heat players were bothered by the stifling, physical defense that the Pacers play on a regular basis and ultimately the game ended in defeat for the champs. Fast-forward to a few weeks later, the Heat are riding high, rolling through teams on what was the second longest winning streak in NBA history. There was an “X” on this game for a lot of analysts, suggesting that the Heat’s magical streak was going to come to an end against the Pacers.

The argument was valid, considering that the Pacers were the last team to beat Miami over a month before.

Needless to say the defending NBA champions flexed their muscles a little bit, rolling the Pacers for an easy 20 plus point victory.

But here we are again. In the Eastern Conference finals like many people predicted.

Two outstanding defensive teams, one led by a two headed tandem of Roy Hibbert, the eraser, and Paul George, the lock down specialist. The other led by the best player in the world, LeBron James.

The series will be physical, just like every series that

these two teams are involved in has been. But there is some added motivation here for both teams.

The motivation for the Heat is simple, to prove their naysayers wrong. But that isn’t all, with the help of the media, a quote that was taken from Pacer Head coach Frank Vogel portrays the Heat as “Just another team” a comment that was taken offensively to by LeBron, saying that his team was not just another team, and preparing for them would not be that easy.

Vogel was quick to set the record straight, saying that the sports media world spun his comments in a negative way and that he had the upmost respect for James and his team. Regardless, his words still might have sparked something inside the Heat locker room.

For the Pacers, no media influence is needed to motivate them. They do not like the Heat, and their dislike for them, added to their drive to get to the championship for the first time in over a decade, is more than enough to ignite a Pacers team with a chip on their shoulders. Their mix of young up and coming stars, crafty veterans, and an overall hard nosed defensive attitudes gives them an edge in almost every contest. They will be put to the test, that much is certain. But for those who wear Pacer gold, they know that true gold fears no flame.

Simply put, it looks to be an outstanding series, probably the best that this year’s playoff bracket could offer. In my opinion, the Heat is too strong to go down in this round (or in any round really). The Pacers, while very competent on the defensive side of the ball, have struggled to score at various points of this playoff season.

The Heat’s defensive prowess will be on display and it will be too much for the Pacers to overcome. Heat in six.

www.wou.edu/student/westernjournal

May 22, 2013

May 22, 2013

The Tim Tebow Law Iain Dexter | Freelancer

Most people know who Tim Tebow is. The star quarterback who played at the University of Florida, who won the National Championship with the Gators as well as a Heisman Trophy award.

Even with the success he had in college, he may

as a kid, but went on to be extremely successful in both high school and college ball.

“I think calling it the “Tim Tebow Law” is a cheap plow to try and gain publicity for this issue,” said KWOU Station Manager Ryne Buchanan.

“I don’t see a problem with home schooled kids getting a chance to play high school sports.”

- Ryne Buchanan KWOU STATION MANAGER

“Tebow is basically a god in the south and they are just using his publicity to try and reach a broader amount of people.”

Tebow has been a controversial player to say the least in his three seasons in the NFL. A lot of it has to do with his style of play, along with his religious beliefs that seem to get pushed to the forefront of his games and interviews. Many people despise Tebow, and there are others that have placed him on a pedestal,

he was homeschooled.

Tebow though, being an NFL player and one of the most talked about players in all of sports whether it is warranted or not, has brought a large amount of attention to the law just by having his name in the title. There are definite pros and cons to having this bill passed, but most people would be willing to agree that homeschooled children should be able to compete.

“If this does get passed as a law, I do think it will change the way some things function,” said McCollister. “One question that pops into my mind is how much it will open other doors.

If a certain grade takes a field trip, will this require homeschooled students to be allowed to participate in it as well?”

Though Tim Tebow is a controversial player in the NFL because of his religious views and actions, his playing style, and his character, but no one can doubt the effectiveness of putting his name on front cover.

The real issue of the law lies in the purpose, and that is to give kids the opportunity to take part in sports or extracurricular activities.

Photo Courtesy of Google

be better known for his highly scrutinized NFL career. His name has come up most recently in a law title, the Tim Tebow Law. Though the law happens to be named after him, it does not in fact have a lot to do with Tebow himself.

The law is designed to give homeschooled children the same opportunity in high school athletics and extracurricular activities as high school students. The connection with Tebow is that he was homeschooled

but either way, his name attracts attention.

Currently in many states, homeschooled kids are not allowed to take part in high school athletics.

Roughly half of U.S. states have some form of equal access for homeschoolers, but many have yet to change, keeping out many potential athletes from the chance to compete.

Oregon is one of the states allowing homeschooled kids into high school activities, while the most recent was Texas who passed the Tim Tebow Law in May 2013.

“I don’t see a problem with home schooled kids getting a chance to play high school sports,” said Buchanan.

“I’m sure coaches will find a way to abuse this law, if it gets passed, to try and build power house programs.”

“I feel that this shouldn’t be a law, mainly because once it becomes a law, it is set in stone,” said junior Chris McCollister.

“Instead it should be a school code that also has requirements set by the state. This results in the school still having some flexibility if it becomes necessary.”

The Tim Tebow Law does not have much to do with Tebow other than

Home schooled NFL star Tim Tebow is being used as the face of a new legislation.

Sports OPINION

7

Bikinis, BMIs & Beauty Alexa Armstrong Editor-in-Chief

What kind of society do we live in when you see a girl rocking her curves and your first thought is “Oh, Lord look at that ass on her… poor thing.” This is what we have been programed to think: skinny = good, curvy = bad.

I realize that this column revolves around a touchy subject for us all: weight, body image, and the relationship we maintain with ourselves; so just bare with me. Because I know how uncomfortable these three topics are, I try to avoid thinking about them on a daily basis myself. But today I face them head on, curves and all.

I’ve always been relatively thin, but I am naturally curvy. Needless to say I have my own problem areas that keep me up at night, but the people I am surrounded by in my everyday life are half the battle between me and my struggle to feel beautiful.

My mom reminds me fairly regularly that my body is not perfect, which is a battle in and of itself.

My stepmother is former Mrs. Oregon. Enough said.

My dad is blunt, and at times insensitive (shocker). And then there is society… what a bitch.

I grew up my whole life having the women in my family dictate what I wear, “because WE don’t have the body for that.” Well, there is no WE when it comes to my body, there is ME, and the list ends there. Not to mention that all of the women in my family are 50+ in age, and I am a 22-year-old woman… you get the idea.

Society holds me to the impossibly high standard of being sexy all the time. To society, sexy is exactly what it sounds like, sex. I am expected to have a rocking body, and wear things that would deem me a prostitute 63 years ago. Well, I will tell you right now, that is impossible.

Do you realize how exhausting it is to try and look average everyday? Let alone, try to look dazzling?

Forget it. The truth is my favorite things to wear are my boyfriend’s sweats and an old hoodie, and it’s not always a pretty sight, but it’s me. This is not to say I don’t like to dress up from time to time, and really go all out, but at the end of the day, I am not going to pretend to be someone that society wants me to be.

Now, what I am going to talk about next is not for the faint of heart, its been known to send respectable, grown women run screaming in the other direction: bikini season.

For the last three months, I’ve gone in and out of crash diets; work out fads, and panic sessions of P90x.

It didn’t take long for the weight to start coming off, it took even less time for me to hit my plateau of weight loss. Before long, I started losing faith in my abilities.

And then I realized that this sudden race towards a size two was not for me, but for the people who have to look at me.

But honestly, who gives a fuck about the people who have to look at me? What I should be saying to myself is this: “Honey, who you are in a bathing suit is not who you are in life! And for what its worth, you’re stunning anyhow.” This is what every woman who is standing in front of the mirror cringing at her not-sobikini-ready body should be saying to herself.

You see, what needs work is not our bodies, but our minds; our minds are what need the real cleansing.

We don’t need to lose weight; we need to lose the narrow-minded views that society has imposed on our lives. And what we need to gain is self-respect, stop comparing yourself to others, stop hating how you look, because whether you’re a size 2, or 22 you are beautiful.

It’s society who is ugly.

www.wou.edu/student/westernjournal

8 News & Entertainment Pizza from Front Page six beers on tap and several more in bottles or cans, depending on the label. With time, a wider variety of beer can be expected, namely labels from around Oregon, as well as from California.

As a business, West Coast Pizza was a longterm dream made reality by Seely and Mary, who, after hearing of the unfortunate loss of the local Indian restaurant that burned down two summers ago, decided to turn the site into what it is today.

“I’ve been wanting to open a pizza place for over ten years,” Mary said, explaining that other than West Coast, he also owns a Medical Consulting Firm and a Medical Technology business.

Outside of getting settled into town and welcoming in the college students looking for a quick bite to eat, the owners of West Coast Pizza have designed their business model for the college campus, intent on giving back to the community and Western.

“We want to give back to the university and the community, through fundraising and events,” Mary said. “We have already had a lot of groups approach us from the school.”

In accordance to their business plan, West Coast intends to hold at least one event a month, including some that will require the closing of Monmouth Ave. for an afternoon.

For those wondering about the effects of having two pizza places in the same row of buildings, have no fear. The differences in atmospheres between organic and unique Yeasty Beasty as opposed to modern and laid back West Coast is nearly tangible.

West Coast is open to all of Monmouth and Western from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday, offering a wide variety of food and drink, and a comfortable space for a quick bite to eat.

Iron Man from Page 4 exhilarating as the rest of the MCU, with just the right balance of action, drama and humor. This definitely comes across as more character- driven than the previous two “Iron Man” films, as this one deals with a mentally scarred Tony Stark trying to keep himself together when it seems that everything is trying to make his life worse and he is questioning his own identity and worth.

Despite his adversity, however, he still manages to crack a few jokes here and there, though this time as more of a defense mechanism. And when he has to fight, he will fight, with every breath he has. Tony Stark as a character is practically the centerpiece of the film, and his arc is just as important as the plot itself.

It’s a shame then that the plot of this movie is decidedly average. A good chunk of the story is devoted to solving a mystery that the audience probably already knows the answer to ten minutes in. There is a rather interesting twist two-thirds into the film—one that may upset hardcore fans of the comics, but otherwise works here—that does throw a bit of a curveball, but for the most part, this is the kind of movie plot that you’ve seen in dozens of other Hollywood blockbusters in the past five years. There are some minor plot holes here, a cliché character motivation there,

but despite these flaws, it still manages to be so much fun that ignoring them comes pretty easily.

These three films have always had a pair of saving graces that just go hand in hand like chocolate and peanut butter; witty dialogue and Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. The dialogue in these movies has always been very sharp, and RDJ’s delivery is fast and brimming with sarcasm. The jokes he gives are always funny, and when he needs to take things more seriously, he does it with conviction. These two things together create a work of art that makes these movies just so much more entertaining than they already are (and actually made Iron Man 2 tolerable).

Years from now, RDJ’s performance will be absolutely iconic of the character, and will probably be what he is remembered for the most, as is to be deserved.

“Iron Man 3” does just what it needs to as the start to a new line of Marvel movies. It’s action packed, it’s funny, it’s dark, it’s the perfect popcorn movie. While thinking about the plot in hindsight may lead to some more critical scrutiny, it’s not so bad as to hinder your enjoyment, and Robert Downey Jr. is a delight as always. It may be more of the same, but in this case, that’s not a bad thing.

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May 22, 2013

Opinion

Times are Changing Even in Sports Stephanie Lane Sports Editor

It’s always funny to see the debates that come up in my P.E. classes. This time the topic was motivating America’s youth to be physically active. The list for the lack of activity included the normal obesity, parents, cutting P.E in schools (which is a whole other debate) and media.The one that caught my attention: too expensive.

Too expensive?

How expensive can it be to find some friends and go play tag? But then I realized, times really have changed haven’t they? Kids don’t play tag anymore. They don’t always have the option to go outside and play in their neighborhood. When the class listed ‘too expensive’ as a reason, they were pointing out the rising cost of club sports. I myself participated in club volleyball. I don’t quite remember the cost to participate since my mother always paid it for me. What I do remember is that she often went without things she wanted so that I could play volleyball as close to year around as I could.

Was it expensive then and I just wasn’t that observant?

I find that all-inclusive teams now are charging $675 a player. Well it may not have been cheap when I played, but it sure wasn’t that expensive to hit a ball back and forth over a net. I find it absolutely ridiculous to be charging youth so much to be active and have fun doing it.

It’s bad enough that physical education programs are being cut, making it harder for youth to be active and participate in structured activity which will improve their development, but now the one way they can still benefit from structured sports at a young age cost them such a large amount, which for some families is impossible to pull together leaving some children without the option to participate at all. This limits their ability to be active in yet another way. How can this be changed?

How can it be fixed? Get P.E. back in school and don’t just preach healthy habits to youth instead lead by example. Its not being a good example or role model by telling a child to eat healthy foods while we eat fast food and tell them to be active while we watch television all night. Its time to take action and be leaders in our society before the youth of this country get so wrapped up in fatty un-nutritional food and forget what some good old-fashioned (yes!

Old-fashioned) activity really is.