Advocacy Letter | Teen Ink

Advocacy Letter

January 4, 2011
By Kirstyn SILVER, Nashotah, Wisconsin
Kirstyn SILVER, Nashotah, Wisconsin
8 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Dear Mr. Kevin Flegner:
Arrowhead High School provides an excellent activities program. There is no denying this. The fact that over seven thousand spectators attended one football game, at our brand new stadium, can prove this point. The community and students appreciate being able to be a part of such an impeccable program, especially because not everyone gets to experience the same thing we do. However, after being an athlete of this school for four consecutive years, I have encountered a few problems I would like to address. Not only has the Arrowhead gymnastics team been tumbling on a broken floor, but they also have been landing on faulty mats. Gymnastics is a dangerous sport, and I believe it is only right we get an increase in our budget to be able to assure the safety of these girls.
For some time now, the Arrowhead gymnastics team has been having many issues regarding equipment. Due to defective equipment, almost each individual on our team has suffered from shin splints and several other injuries. Since the gymnastics team has a very small budget, and the cost of getting new equipment is extremely high, it is nearly impossible to improve on what we have now. What we have now are molded mats that we share with two other sports teams, a broken floor that we have to take apart and put back together at least twice a week, an extremely old and illegal bar set, and we have to share the gym with the basketball teams, who complain about us playing our floor music. Personally, I don’t mind sharing our equipment, but it is frustrating when our equipment is misused and improperly stored by other teams. Leaving our mats outside in the rain and simply by folding the mats the wrong way, is how they have become defective. I believe it is only fair that the Arrowhead gymnastics team receives a larger budget to be able to assure the safety of the team.
It wasn’t until this past year, after going to state three years in a row and becoming back-to-back state champions, that people actually realized we had a gymnastics team, and I think we deserve more than what we actually get. Gymnastics is a very dangerous sport, and without the proper equipment, it becomes even more dangerous. You have the ability to increase our budget to provide proper equipment for our team. I know you would agree that it is crucial to assure the safety of these girls.
If you wish to contact me, you can use the phone number above, or you can email me. Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,

Kirstyn Wood

The author's comments:
I am a part of Arrowhead's Varsity girls gymnastics team. I have been on the team for the past three years, and our equipment is falling apart. I have suffered from several injuries, and the fact that our equpment was increasing the risk of becoming injured, just made things worse. I felt as though something needed to be done about our bad situation, so I decided to write a letter to our activities director in regards to our problem.

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