Some sports get all of the glory.

Football and basketball tend to dominate interest among most students because of their traditions and their spectator-friendly aspects. However, Akins offers many other competitive sports like golf, wrestling, and tennis that don’t always get a lot of attention. And there are still other programs that offer students physical activities that aren’t competitive, including yoga and life-guarding training.

Head Golf Team Coach Tony Degelia, said he is focused on growing the program, which historically has been small. So far there are about 30 students who participate.

“I’m very flattered that there’s as much interest. I hope that this continues, he said.

Degelia said there is a lot of support for the golf team in the community, which is very important for the program’s growth. He said there are good lessons to learn from playing golf.

“Golf is a lot about struggle, and life is a struggle,” he said. “In golf, every swing and shot you take, there’s a serious struggle and a stress in it and it has a lot to do with life, so I think it projects life in the future for a lot of kids and then they have to think, Hey I’ve got to dig in and care about something.”

Senior Carlos Soria said he is looking forward to the future success of the golf program and that he is proud of senior Riley Romero and sophomore Nolan Clay’s performances.

“Riley was able to shoot a 73 which is very good, And then Nolan shot a 79,” he said. “If we can stay on track and just perform, and improve our skill, then I have high hopes that we will do very well in tournaments or even in district.”

Lifeguard Training Coach Jerry De La Huerta said the program is based on a partnership with the City of Austin and the YMCA. In this program, students earn a physical education credit while learning how to swim and work toward a lifeguard certification. He said the program could provide students with a guaranteed job at the end with the City of Austin or the YMCA.

The program requires two class periods because students have to ride a bus to go to the pool at Big Stacy Pool, which is near Travis High School. Students stay there until noon and students stay in the water for about an hour each class. He said students get back to Akins by about 12:10, giving them enough time to shower and get ready for lunch.

He said at first students usually start the program with a lot of questions, not knowing the expectations of class, his role, and what he expects them to do.

“So kids come in not sure of what the class is and they get a little bit shocked in the beginning when its a lot for them to handle, but then they learn to appreciate the importance of this class and the skills they’re learning, not just with swimming but being able to understand what it is to hold a job and responsibilities and whatnot.”

Since January 2020, assistant dance director Morgan Eddy has led yoga classes at Akins. She said she hopes students in her classes will experience different forms of mindfulness and self-care.

“I want this class to be kind of an escape from their other classes, where they can come and relax and move their bodies and learn more about themselves, and different methods of self-care”.

Eddy said she encourages new students to check out her yoga classes.

“New students should know this is a movement-based class, that we’ll move our bodies every single day, and perform various yoga poses and stretches throughout the class. We also experience meditation and work on mindfulness. I do have to take grades so we do have a BLEND module we will work from, too.”

She also said that by the end of the school year she wants her students to find different methods to exercise, different forms of mindfulness, and self-care that they can take into their everyday lives.