The Crack is wack. The Crack is the middle area between Tamalpais High School’s softball and baseball fields. In the off-season, the Crack serves as a perfect place for Tam High’s Canadian geese population to hang out and spend their days. However, while sports are in full swing, the Crack has no room to spare for its feathery friends, as Tam’s field sports are pushed to use every last available space. Tam’s lack of field space is an ongoing issue that requires lots of organization and communication between sports. Therefore, its space should be reviewed and thought more about when the school considers funds for the future.

In an average school year, Tam High’s field space hosts five sports. Field hockey, football, cheer in the fall, soccer in the winter, then lacrosse and track and field in the spring. In all honesty, as much as the Crack and field try to provide for Tam High’s field sports, they will never be enough for sports that need more space to function properly.

Tam High Senior and varsity soccer player Annelie Kamperin said, “It’s chaotic when all the sports are practicing at once. There is never enough room for everyone to do their own drills.” 

Kamperin, who has been playing for Tam soccer since freshman year, spent most of her junior varsity (JV) seasons practicing in the infamous crack. She described how the odd layout of the space made it harder to practice, along with other teams using the space making it even more cramped.

 “During the 2021 season things were even worse because Covid-19 forced all of the sports into the same season,” Kamperin said. Kamperin brings up a point verified by other athletes who experienced the jumbled season of spring 2021. In this season all five of Tam High’s field sports were pushed into the same three-month period.

“Just when you thought field space at tam was bad enough, here comes Covid-19,” senior track and field athlete Mckenzie Holtzapple said. As Holtzapple participates in a majority of the field events on the team, she spent a good amount of time watching other sports that were going on around her. 

“One time, soccer was practicing on the first half of the football field, and lacrosse was on the other, then the football players were getting dressed for their practice, all while track was running sprints,” Holtzapple said. “It was crazy.” 

It is highly doubtful that there will ever be a situation like Covid-19 again, displacing sports from their normal seasons. However, the coronavirus pandemic and the chaotic sports season that followed highlighted the fact that practice space at Tam is a problem that needs solving.