A highschool in Seattle, Wash., is aiming to steer a motion in monitor and subject by advocating for the elimination of beginning pistols from highschool and university-level monitor meets.
In November 2022, a capturing contained in the hallways of Ingraham Excessive College resulted within the tragic dying of a 17-year-old and left lecturers and college students traumatized. Now, the college’s monitor coach and athletic director, Mike Wentzel, is seeking to make a change.
In accordance with Seattle’s NBC K5 Information, Wentzel acknowledged that the starter pistol used for monitor and subject meets, which fires high-calibre blanks, might doubtlessly be traumatizing for the younger athletes. “The concept that we might fireplace off a gun again and again throughout the monitor meet, which could be heard all through your complete campus and neighbourhood, to me is simply unacceptable,” mentioned Wentzel.
Wentzel and Ingraham Excessive College are urging each highschool of their district and state to undertake an digital beginning system that triggers a tone and flashes lights as an alternative of firing pistol blanks. The fee for one system per college is estimated to be round USD $7,000.
“The digital beginning methods are such that on the time you push the button that triggers the tone, it additionally begins the timing system, so the timing can be exact,” Wenzel defined to NBC K5 Information.
The digital system performs a simulated gunshot sound broadcasted via audio system. Whereas World Athletics and the Olympics have been utilizing digital methods since 2012, most U.S. highschool and NCAA collegiate meets nonetheless use beginning pistols. The Ontario Federation of College Athletic Associations (OFSAA) and B.C. College Sports activities transitioned to digital beginning methods almost 5 years in the past.
Wentzel, together with Ingraham Excessive College college students, are actively elevating funds to have the brand new system in place throughout the district by spring. They’ve at present raised $7,000 of their $27,000 objective.
