At the start of the 2018 school year , OLSD will experience a big change for the high school sports.

OLSD continues to grow and will add a new high school , which will be opening the next school year. Some students are ready for the new change, and other don’t want to leave the friends and sports community they have created in their original school.

Students are expected to attend the school designated to the student’s home address. An intradistrict form can be completed upon request, but decisions and are based on “student enrollment and staffing needs,” Krista Davis, head of communication for the district said.

As a result of redistricting, sports teams from all high schools will change. Olentangy realizes the opportunity for an intradistrict transfer could lead to a student switching to play for a better sports team. Due to this, there is a consequence of no participation in sports for a year if a student transfers schools.

“ At the moment, our class of 2020 sports is one of the best to come through Olentangy. It’s very upsetting to see so much talent being split up,” Demera H.‘20 said.

Demera is a cheerleader and lacrosse player, and will be redistricted to Berlin next year.

Demera said the biggest impact the change has on her, is the relationships she has built with her coaches and how she will have to adapt to the new change at Berlin.

Although all the high schools will experience a sports change, Berlin will be the most impacted. The opening year, Berlin will not have a senior class. This can cause Berlin to have less players overall and will have less experienced players among other teams in their division or schedule.

Also, since Berlin is a school, they will have to build school spirit and tradition. Things like school cheers, the Wigwam, the Wickiup (student section), drumline at third quarter, and screaming “home of the braves” in the national anthem, won’t develop right away.

“Since the athletes are essentially splitting in half, I’m likely to get more playing time at Berlin than I would at Olentangy,” Jenna B. ‘21 said.

Jenna, who plays lacrosse and field hockey and is additionally getting transferred, looks at the positive in the situation.