To dress up, or not to dress up. This has been a common and recurring issue here at Dimond, with players from different sports choosing to not to dress up for games.

In Athletic Council, we discussed the problem at the beginning of this year, and the overall consensus from the club members was that while it is one of the biggest policies within the Athletic Council’s rulebook, the club is not strictly enforcing it.

So for the past few years, Athletic Council has let the policy be enacted at the coach’s discretion.

Recently in the club, we have talked about what can be done to improve game day attire, but no resolution was created, and it has not been revisited in meetings since October.

For certain Dimond sports like hockey and football, the guidelines for players not dressed up for game days is typically to sit out one game, but for other sports, it is either a slap on the wrist or no consequences at all.

In my opinion, dressing up for game days is a fairly easy task to do, and it shows pride in appearance and boosts self confidence when a person wears nice clothes. It does not always have to be nice dress clothes, it can be the team’s warm ups, because that still shows team unity and coordination.

It is a shame that others do not feel that way, and individuals with that mindset create unnecessary drama for whatever sports team they are on.

To cut out any confusion a player may have, it should be made into an official ASD policy that athletes must dress up on game day, and if the athlete does not dress up, they must sit out one mandatory game.  

Junior Natalie Mack feels the same way, and believes that dressing up on game days should be enforced across the board, or not be a rule at all.

“Dressing up is somewhat of an arbitrary rule that Dimond and other schools have since it’s nowhere to be found in the ASD handbook, so essentially is an option coaches choose to enforce. It should either be a rule and make it mandatory and have consequences for not dressing up or make it optional to dress up if you want to,” Mack said.

There are also other beneficial reasons to dress up for game days. It prepares students for work events and meetings that they will be required to dress up for to make a good impression and keep their jobs.

Senior Mariell Cerdena talked about how dressing up for game days is prep for the future.

“Dressing up for game days is nice, it looks professional and since a lot of athletes dress up that kind of lets other people know that you guys have a game,” Cerdena said.

Senior Horojah Jawara discussed how athletes and DDF members should dress up in order to perform their best, which is a major reason why there is a Dimond tradition of game day formal wear.

“I feel like it’s [important] because they say ‘if you look your best, you’ll do your best,’ so it’s really nice when they dress up because not only is it more professional, but it makes it seem like they are proud of their team, and actually want to do well and win,” Jawara said.

I have heard arguments that are against athletes having to dress up for games, on the basis of it costs too much to buy nice clothes, it is uncomfortable to wear and makes it hard to do labs and messy projects in class, and it should not be required if the team has multiple games within the same week.

Junior Maddi Childers talked about how dressing up for every game day is excessive.

“I think if you have multiple games within one week, you shouldn’t be required to dress up for every game that week. My teachers get mad at me for not wearing the proper clothes for a lab or project, so I bring extra outfits with me to school,” Childers said.

Senior Isaac Villeda added that is can become expensive for athletes to dress up for multiple games in a week.

“Getting dress clothes is expensive, and I am balling on a budget. Coaches shouldn’t be able to punish players for not being able to dress up,” Villeda said.

It seems like fellow Dimond students are torn between whether Dimond should implement a strict game day dress up code or at least have a rest day for multiple games within a week.

Overall, the ASD needs to come up with an official game day wear guideline, instead of leaving it up to the respective high school’s coaches to decide, because then it is not consistent across the board for Dimond sports.