WHS sports teams receive new uniforms
November 14, 2016
At the beginning of each season, WHS athletes receive their uniforms. These uniforms are usually very old, having been passed down from player to player. This school year, several WHS sports teams received new uniforms at the beginning of the fall season. Some other teams will get them in the winter. Girls volleyball, girls soccer, boys soccer, field hockey, girls basketball, boys basketball, and wrestling will all have new uniforms this year.
“Our school committee gave us some money to help us because we were severely lacking,” Athletic Director Heath Rollins said. “We picked the five last teams that were the oldest uniforms in the school, and those go back a scary amount of time.”
For example, the boys’ varsity basketball team used the same uniforms for 18 years.
WHS has a highlighted sports agreement with Under Armour. This means that Under Armour will provide WHS with a 40 percent discount if the athletic department continues to buy their apparel.
“One of my main focuses is to be consistent among the uniforms. We will be getting the same quality uniforms for varsity, JV, and freshman teams,” Rollins said.
The main advantage of this plan, according to Rollins, is that uniforms can be made with no up cost, meaning if a student loses a uniform, the school can theoretically buy the same exact uniform.
“Last year, we probably collected 20 fees for people who lost a uniform, but I couldn’t buy 9 out of 10 of them because the old way of doing uniforms was different,” Rollins said.
This year, seniors will be able to keep their uniforms, something that in previous years was only possible for the football team.
“I’m really excited that we get to keep our uniforms because sports like field hockey were a big part of my high school experience,” senior Emily Wang said.
Rollins said that designing uniforms is a lot of work. “There are so many options, like colors. It’s a little more work for me than what I’m used to,” Rollins said.
“Overall, it’s kind of neat and exciting, a new thing,” Rollins said. “We’ll find out at the end of the year how it goes and then we’ll reevaluate and see if we want to continue the agreement or if we decide it wasn’t worth it. I think everyone’s been pretty positive; there’s a lot of excitement around it, and it’s a change for these neat high quality uniforms.”