After-school fun not just for jocks anymore

University High School students Josh Hunt and Brent Grossman might be trying to save the planet from alien invaders or participating in a smash fest after school these days.

The 14-year-old freshmen are part of the high school’s intramural gaming club, which meets four days a week.

The students gather in empty classrooms to play video games such as Halo 2 or Super Smash Brothers. They turn out the lights and sit in a circle around television screens, fingers fast at work on the game controllers.

“It’s hard to play multiplayer video games by yourself,” said Grossman. “Some of us live so far apart. So it’s nice to have people to play with here. We just come right here after school.”

The eccentric intramural club is part of a Central Valley School District intramural program set in motion three years ago to target kids who normally wouldn’t stay after school for extracurricular activities.

Students who are involved in extracurricular activities have a better overall high school experience, said Ken Van Sickle, vice principal and activities coordinator at U-High.

“People think back to their high school days and wish they had done more,” Van Sickle said. And more doesn’t have to mean athletics.

In addition to traditional open gym intramural activities such as volleyball and basketball, students at both Central Valley high schools and the middle schools have been enjoying more out-of-the-ordinary activities – such as gaming – inspired by the students themselves.

“We’re just trying to reach out to kids from different avenues, so they enjoy being here,” Van Sickle said. “We’re hitting a group of kids that wouldn’t normally be involved.”

Central Valley High School even had a car stereo competition this fall.

The intramural program was started in 2002 with money saved from the elimination of some junior high coaching positions. The positions were cut when the high schools switched from three- to four-year programs.

The district was able to use $130,000 for the intramural program, which pays for an adviser at each school and some materials for the programs. Each school was initially given $15,000, but that amount was dropped to $10,000 this year because of districtwide budget cuts, said district superintendent Mike Pearson.

“We took away some money, but it wasn’t a lot,” Pearson said. “Our goal is still to get as many kids involved in as many activities as possible.”

U-Hi students are enjoying activities like the video game clubs, board game clubs, Anime, also known as Japanese cartoon drawing, and even Yu-gi-oh card trading. In the spring they play beach volleyball at Browns Park near the school. The students can be involved in as many of the intramural activities as they want, and the activities are free.

Most of the materials are provided, but in some cases the students choose to bring their own, such as new video games or trading cards.

U-Hi also has a popular “step” team, which performs a percussive performance style drawn from African rhythms and dances. The group has competed and performed all over the state.

“Some of the kids in that group I know aren’t involved in anything else,” Van Sickle said.

Students are given a survey each year asking what kinds of activities they would like to participate in, Pearson said.

While some of the programs, like the step team and video game clubs, have been largely successful, others have not.

Last year one of the high schools held a movie screening, and only six kids showed up, Pearson said.

Based on those surveys, “I thought we’d start seeing between 500 and 600 kids involved. But we’re not there yet,” Pearson said. “There are so many factors that influence (attendance). … There’s lots of kids that work, and once they go home, they don’t want to come back.”

One day last week, Grossman and Hunt were surrounded by at least 20 students who stayed after school to play Halo 2 in teacher Wally Watson’s classroom.

The game is played on an XBox, a video game system with high-end graphics and games that are geared toward teenagers and young adults.

According to the XBox Web site, Halo 2 players take on the life of a genetically enhanced super-soldier, the only thing standing between the relentless alien covenant and the destruction of all humankind.

“It’s like, the game to play right now,” Grossman explained.

The students linked several Xboxes and used the classroom overhead projector for a screen, allowing six players or more to play at a time. They also had two television sets hooked up.

With game controllers in hand, the gamers launched a tournament that was set to last for hours.

“It’s almost as if the kids think, ‘if you’re not a jock, you’re not cool,’ ” Watson said. “Now they have someplace where they can be cool, too.”