Athletic Director Crowe reports to the Board of Education
O’Neill High School Athletic Director Debbi Crowe was before the Board of Education last week to talk about the ‘state of sports’ in the Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery Central School District. She started off her remarks noting that “these are really exciting times for O’Neill athletics”, referring to the near-completion of the first phase of work on the high school’s outdoor athletic facilities.
She talked about how excited the spring athletes are to use the new artificial turf field behind the school, and how they are looking forward to the second one to be built this coming summer. Inside the building she said that students had just been assigned lockers in the newly renovated locker rooms, and that students are using the new weight and cardio facilities — with new equipment — created as part of the district’s capital project.
“I have to tell you, the football team was so excited when they saw the weight room,” she said, noting that football coach Brian Larkin and custodian Pete Baker were instrumental in getting that room ready to use. Several more pieces of equipment are also expected to be delivered soon.
Crowe took a minute, too, to thank West Point for its “generous cooperation” during the construction period at the high school — soccer and football ‘home’ games were played at USMAPS last fall, and the tennis teams have played at West Point for many years.
Crowe did note several new items will need to be purchased as the spring sports season begins, including some new hurdles for the track and benches for the stadium field.
While the AD thanked the board for making all of that happen, she also pointed out that the true stars of the school’s athletics are its students.
“We are a New York State Public High School Athletic Association School of Excellence,” she said, “after 20 of our 22 varsity sports teams in 2018-19 qualified as scholar-athlete teams. Not too many Section 9 programs can say that. Excellent.”
“We work hard with our athletes to ensure that academics are their top priority,” she said. “The physical education department facilitates an athletic study hall, especially to support those students struggling and to hold them accountable to the rules of eligibility.”
She spoke about the high number of HF-FMCSD students who participate in athletics; in addition to those 22 varsity teams there are 10 JV teams and six modified teams. In all, approximately 715 students made up those 38 teams, with many of them participating in more than one sport. There are 16 different sports available for athletes to choose from.
In another area where local athletes excel, Crowe said she is very proud of how the district’s athletes and their coaches band together to “give back” to their community. She said in the past year students have raised funds for charitable causes via a volleyball ‘Diggin’ for a Cure’ and crew ‘Row for a Cure’ events and Miles of Hope Day, as well as Coaches v. Cancer events; have collected holiday gifts for community children; and have cleaned up garbage in both Highland Falls and West Point.
She noted, too, that in addition to athletes who participate in those various activities, often non-athletes participate in the various events. “We couldn’t be more grateful to those students,” she said.
