After a successful first year and inaugural championship, the Class of 2026 is returning for their second annual Olympics, with new teams, a new manager, and a new schedule that aims to make its second year better than the first.
“We have a sports league for our class every year,” junior class president Andrew Zhang said. “Last year, we did soccer, basketball and football, and each team did two games of each sport. There were eight teams last year, and Team Koganti ultimately came out on top.”
Zhang, alongside the other then-sophomores in Student Council, spearheaded the effort to introduce the Olympics, and they have been at the helm of deciding how the league will be run, including the newest changes this year.
“Most of it is the same, so there’s still eight teams, but Team Lin is now Team Warner,” Zhang said. “The main differences are that the teams that they chose are different, and we removed football.”
Drawing some controversy, the removal of football from the league’s schedule has placed extra importance on basketball and soccer. According to Zhang, the main reason for the change was the imbalance between certain teams that football created — a key issue that he and the other members of the student council wanted to fix. Games were largely lopsided and uncompetitive, making or breaking several teams’ seasons in big games like the blowout in last year’s final match.
“It was less competitive and less skill-based,” Zhang said. “People just didn’t want to watch, and no one really wanted to play. So we took it out.”
With the change, in its second year, the Olympics have continued to see strong attendance from all kinds of students from the athletic ones to those more academically focused. Some of these students have even become celebrities after standing out on the field or on the court.
“There are great examples, like Enzo [Henry] last year,” Zhang said. “He got the game-winning penalty save. Then he scored the game-winning penalty, and then he does the same thing this year. He’s a great example of someone who isn’t sporty, but because of the league, he found his confidence.”
As Zhang reflects on what the Olympics have done for the junior class, he sees it as one of the biggest unifying experiences drawing all parts of grade together, and something that will stick with its members as uniquely theirs.
“The whole reason we did this was class unity,” Zhang said . “We wanted something that everyone could do and everyone could be a part of, and we could say this was our class. So when you thought of our class, you’d be like, ‘Oh yeah, we have the Olympics.’ And I think it’s done just that.”