School sports are most commonly a source of unity and pride within students. They are a way for students to fit in, get to know other people, and cultivate school spirit along with getting to do something they’re passionate about.
For sophomores Lillian McCulloch, Lindsay Garber, and Raigan Fredericks however, their interests and passions lie outside of what their school offers.
“I started gymnastics when I was 4 years old,” Garber said. She’s been doing gymnastics at Dynamats in Muncy since preschool.
McCulloch has also been doing her sport for a very long time. She started dancing when she was only 2 years old at the Katie Benson School of Dance. “My mom teaches there so all of the dance teachers are like family to me,” McCulloch said.
Fredericks has been on a travel softball team called Central PA Rage since she was in fifth grade. “It’s been a really amazing experience,” she said.
Sports outside of school have had a tremendous influence on these students in multiple ways.
“[Dance] teaches me discipline, technique, and how to think fast on my feet,” McCulloch said, describing the skills she’s learned from her experience as a dancer.
With each sport is a different set of skills to be learned. Fredericks says she’s learned leadership skills and the importance of being close with your teammates.
“I would say those girls I have such close bonds with because I spend pretty much my entire year with them,” Raigan said.
The lessons Garber learned, however, are a bit more mentality based.
“You can’t really think about what other people are saying about you,” Garber said. “I’ve had problems with people saying I’m not good enough or that I shouldn’t be there. You just have to make sure that you’re doing it for yourself and not anybody else.”
Two of the girls have also gained skills in teaching. McCulloch teaches first and second grade Hip Hop on Wednesdays and it’s her first year student teaching with Katie, who owns the Katie Benson School for Dance.
Garber teaches students that are a little bit younger. She teaches the preschool gymnastics classes on Thursdays.
“It’s a really good experience because you can see them grow up and really learn a lot,” Garber says.
For McCulloch, the impacts the sport has on her life extend further than just learning valuable life lessons and skills. “I have really bad anxiety so when I dance, all of it goes away,” she says. “It gives me an escape from reality,” she said.
McCulloch said doesn’t do it for the competitions, she just does it because she loves it and it helps her mental health.
The girls have also formed amazingly close relationships with the other people on their teams that they spend their time with.
“My favorite part about [gymnastics] is honestly the stuff outside of the gym,” Garber says. “It’s really hard to go to four-hour practices three to four days a week so we try to do as much together as possible like sleepovers, shopping, parties and all that.”
McCulloch and Fredericks agree that some of the best parts about it are the people they are there with.
“I like to spend time with my teammates because we do team bonding when we’re not playing so it’s nice to build relationships with the girls,” Fredericks said.
Team bonding for her includes team dinners, hangouts, and being together in hotel rooms when they’re away. “Last year we went to the beach and we all went on the boardwalk together,” she said.
McCulloch said that the teachers and students at dance are all one big supportive family, which is echoed by Garber about her gymnastics team.
“I know it’s cheesy but they’re like my second family,” Garber said. “I know that any problems that I have I can go to them and I feel comfortable talking to them about literally anything.”
Fredericks said almost exactly the same thing. “I know that I can trust those girls with anything and that they can trust me with anything,” she said. “I know that I can go to them with anything that I need to talk about.”
There is also another upside to having friends that don’t go to your school. “If I have a conflict, I can talk about it with someone who wasn’t there,” McCulloch said. “I have people I can talk to inside and outside school so there is always someone there for me.”
Fredericks and Garber both strongly agree with McCulloch and all of the girls agree that their sports outside of school have made them better people and have impacted their life in a largely positive way.
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Sports Offered at Montoursville Area High School
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Featured Photo (above): Sophomore Lindsay Garber warms up for her floor routine at a competition called Capital Cup in Washington D.C. She placed seventh overall out of her age group at the competition. Photo by Katie Garber
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