LIVONIA, Mich. – A petition in support of the Livonia Figure Skating Club becoming a sport has more than 1,300 signatures, but still no official response from the school district.
The girls and their coach asked the district to designate their club as a sport so they would have the ability to earn a varsity letter.
Figure skater Ainsley Walters, a sophomore at Churchill High School, says she and her teammates should be eligible for a varsity letter, especially since the teams they compete within the region are considered a spot and, therefore, earn letters for their jackets.
“That makes me even more frustrated because they’re doing the exact same thing we’re doing, but they’re getting recognized, and we’re not,” said Walters.
On Monday (Feb. 26) night, Waters and many other figuring skating club athletes were joined by athletes from the Livonia Girls Hockey Program and their coach.
Many of them stood up before school board members to address the varsity letter issue.
“We’re doing the same academic stuff, the same practice stuff, the same game stuff in order to get a varsity letter, but were not getting it,” said sophomore hockey player Charlotte “CJ” Howell.
Their coach, Janine Martinez, says she’s only able to give her girls an activity letter after two years of participation.
“The issue with that is that the letter literally says activity on it, they show up to practices, work hard at games, rep schools would like to one step further by having a varsity jacket and putting a varsity letter on it, makes a huge difference for these girls,” said Martinez.
Lindsay Bakkan, president of Livonia Figure Skating Club, says she has been trying to get a sport designation since the fall.
Bakkan says an athletic director with the district told her it was a complicated process and directed her to the secondary director of education.
Shes says she has yet to get a response.
Local 4 tried to speak with board members after the meeting but was told the board was not available to comment since they had only learned of the issue last week when the petition went out.