My friend, Paul Kessler, faced a barrage of negative comments after setting up an event on Facebook, encouraging students to come to the Jan. 14 Homecoming basketball game.

A former Country Day and current Jesuit student posted a comment on the public event’s wall that said that if Jesuit played in Div. VII, they would win the section championship in every sport.

Another comment described how Country Day’s healthy athletes are comparable to Jesuit’s injured athletes.While it’s well known that Jesuit produces many gifted athletes, comments such as those are unfair and naïve.

It’s simply ludicrous to compare Country Day’s sports to Jesuit’s—or any other large school’s.

Unlike Jesuit, St. Francis, or Rio, Country Day’s athletic department can’t choose from more than a thousand kids to build its teams.

Sure, the school’s no-cut policy means we don’t always produce the most athletic teams. But since I’ve been in high school, plenty of squads have made it to the postseason.

The varsity boys’ soccer team has been in the section championship three times in the past six years, and won twice.

The 2009 varsity golf team won the league championship over powerhouse Faith Christian, after going 14-0.

The cross-country team recently clinched two consecutive section championships (2009 and 2010) and won five straight league titles.

The track and field team has also made it to sections every year I’ve been in high school.

The varsity girls’ volleyball team has made it to the playoffs two years in a row.

And the ever-growing ski and snowboard team consistently sends competitors to the state championships.

Athletic director Matt Vargo is also pleased with the small swim team’s success.

“Even though (they) usually have only one or two members, we almost always send a swimmer to sections,” said Vargo.

Last year Robbie Lemons, ’10, led the Cavs into the second round of the basketball playoffs—while individually nearly leading the nation in scoring with 36.8 points per game (second nationally)—before losing to rival Waldorf.

I’ll concede that not all of our teams are strong, but that’s a small price to pay when anyone who wants to can play sports.

Eleven Country Day alumni currently play varsity college sports. Given how tough it is to make teams at large high schools, having eight percent of a school moving on to college athletics is impressive.

Another great aspect is how the coaches treat their student-athletes. From my experiences with baseball and basketball, I’ve taken away two things: my coaches are serious enough to care about winning, yet they still respect and give me time to focus on other extracurriculars too.

Our fan base also benefits from the school’s milder emphasis on sports.

While some schools live for their home sporting events, our week isn’t ruined if we lose a game. We have plenty of students, parents and alumni that care about winning, but few will have a miserable car ride home after one measly loss.

Country Day’s friendly student-teacher interactions also can’t be found at most other schools.

And because it’s size, rather than talent, that determines which division schools are in, Country Day is a very competitive school in the Sac Joaquin section.

I could never give up our quality academics, rigorous college preparation, nurturing teachers and girls just to stock our trophy case.