Blue Devil Senior Athletes Participating in Survey

Huntington High School seniors who have participated in the Blue Devil athletic program at any point over the past four years shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to complete an online senior athlete survey. The seniors can weigh in and offer their views on a variety of aspects related to the program and provide feedback on their personal experience.

As of Sunday afternoon, dozens of Blue Devil senior athletes had completed the survey. Department officials are already considering possible changes in the program to provide for an improved experience.

Seniors can continue to access the survey at this link: Senior Athletic Survey

This marks the second year Huntington UFSD’s athletic department is surveying its graduating seniors in an effort to gain feedback on their experiences. The survey can be submitted anonymously or an athlete can list their name if they’d like to further discuss any aspect of their experience.

NCAA by-laws require that each member institution conduct exit surveys with a sample of student-athletes. To meet that requirement, when a student-athlete completes their participation in intercollegiate athletics they are typically asked to complete a survey, including questions regarding the value of their experiences athletically, academically and socially while representing the college in sports.

Seniors representing all 34 varsity sports programs are being surveyed. The survey asks about all aspects of the student-athlete experience and extends an offer for an in-person meeting with the athletic department’s administration.

The survey itself is modeled after similar college surveys. It’s the logical extension of the Blue Devil athletic program’s philosophy that opens with the following sentence: “We strive to provide the most student-focused athletic experience available in any high school in the country.”

The first “Huntington athletic priority” is “to provide positive and meaningful athletic experiences to as many students as possible.”

The surveys asks about experiences related to the coaching staff, facilities, athletic training, intramural opportunities, team morale, time demands and pressures associated with participation, student-athlete camaraderie, etc.

Seniors are asked early in the survey: “In a few words, how would you summarize your high school athletic experience at Huntington?”

Here is a sampling of the answers:

• I enjoyed the time commitment to participate in a sport.

• The best experience I ever had. If I had the opportunity to return to my first day of high school, I would represent Huntington High School again with this same pride.

• Very fun and enjoyable.

• It was enjoyable and fun to experience.

• It was good.

• Fulfilling.

• Very good. Loved the coaches and learned a lot.

• Best years. I learned so much and became a better person playing sports and overall had a lot of fun playing.

• Amazing. Huntington athletics has been my home for the last four years and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. I loved playing on the varsity girls’ soccer and lacrosse teams for the past four years.

• Pretty well.

• I would say it is pretty good overall because it’s more than just being on a sports team, it’s about being part of a family.

• It was very fun to participate in the sports I love while also meeting a lot of new people.

• I had a great experience meeting all my best friends from the sports I played.

• A very fun time while in this program.