Since AMHS, is a very athletically inclined school, so we thought it would be fitting to find out what sports our teachers have played in the past and present. We got lots of interesting responses from a broad range of sports and interviewed some of them. Here are their stories!

Mrs. Roop – Equestrian
Biology and Marine Science teacher Mrs. Roop played a very unique sport, equestrian. Mrs. Roop started her equestrian career at age 12 which extended into college where she rode at the College of Charleston. Her sophomore year, Mrs. Roop won states, but was sadly not selected to be one of the team’s ten representatives at nationals. During her time as a rider, she participated in “hunter-style” equestrian, which she explained is the form of equestrian competition that people usually think of, with hurdles and other obstacles. She said the other form of equestrian events is “rodeo”, which is also known as “western”. We asked, “What is one misconception about your sport?” Mrs. Roop said that most people think that equestrian isn’t hard because the horse is doing all the work. She stated that equestrian is actually “really difficult” and that hunter-style equestrian can be very dangerous, since sometimes the horse doesn’t want to jump, causing the rider to go flying. This actually happened to Mrs. Roop, giving her a concussion. For our last question, we asked, “Do you think more people should do equestrian?” She responded by saying that equestrian is awesome and encourages people to try it, but it is extremely costly.

Mrs. Roop adds that she “dabbled” in swimming. She said her reason for not continuing swimming is, that although she was fast in the water, she was too slow getting off the blocks at the start of races.

Mrs. Frazier – Track & Field
Math teacher Mrs. Frazier ran Track & Field for AMHS! She did the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay, triple jump, and long jump. She participated in all four years of high school, making it all the way to Lower State for the 4x100m all four years and for the 200m her senior year. After such an accomplished career, Mrs. Frazier said her best memory was watching her teammates compete, especially the hurdlers since “that was an event I absolutely couldn’t do.” Right before Lower State her junior year, Mrs. Frazier got plantar fasciitis in her right foot and Achilles tendinitis in her left foot simultaneously, ending her season and even affecting her to this day. However, she still believes people should do Track & Field saying, “…it’s a great way to get involved athletically because everyone can run and jump, which are the two most basic skills you need for the sport.” Mrs. Frazier says that Track & Field had a big impact on her life saying, “It was the first time I’d competed in anything individually so I had to rely on myself and push myself to be better. It meant that I had to motivate myself if I wanted to stay competitive.” She also cleared up the widespread misconception “that people who run track like running.” She said, “I was not and am not a runner, but I was great at running short distances, which is why I sprinted. Anytime we had to do a distance longer than a quarter mile I’d sing Living on a Prayer in my head the whole time to get through it. Plus, there are several field events to compete in if you truly never want to run and they’re not terribly difficult to learn!” Also, special thanks to Mrs. Frazier for answering our questions despite being on maternity leave!

Mrs. Yackey – Ultimate Frisbee
Magnet’s most energetic teacher, Mrs. Yackey, has played a lot of sports. These include: soccer, wrestling, and mainly ultimate frisbee. She started playing soccer in 6th grade and in her senior year of high school, her soccer team won the state championship. This was a big deal since that was the first time any team from the lower state won the state championship for 3A schools. In college, Mrs. Yackey walked on at NC State during her freshman year. She says although walking on was “pretty cool”, she “hated every second of it.” Next year, she instead played club soccer at the College of Charleston, which was the last year of her soccer career.

Similar to her fellow math teacher Mrs. Frazier, Mrs. Yackey did Track & Cross Country all four years of high school. Her senior year, Mrs. Yackey branched out and did JV Wrestling.

Starting her sophomore year of high school, which was 1999, she took up ultimate frisbee. She continued playing into college at NC State, where she “really fell in love with it” and has played ever since. In her junior year, Mrs. Yackey founded the women’s ultimate frisbee team at the College of Charleston, which continues to this day and even has an AMHS alum on it. Mrs. Yackey’s ultimate frisbee resume is extremely long. She’s been to club nationals ten times and made the semifinals in 2005. In 2009, she played for Team USA in the World Games, in which she won the gold medal. This November, Mrs. Yackey will be returning to the world stage at the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) World Championship for Masters Ultimate Frisbee, in which she will be playing for a USA team. Despite all her accomplishments in the sport, Mrs. Yackey says her biggest “personal” achievement is getting to coach the next generation of ultimate frisbee players. She told us, “I love sharing my passion with others and it brings me true joy to see kids happy playing the sport I love.”

Mrs. Yackey also shared her favorite memories from playing Ultimate Frisbee. She loved winning gold in 2009, playing on several teams with her husband, and meeting most of her friends through Ultimate Frisbee. Some not-as-pleasant memories are her long list of injuries. Mrs. Yackey has had a “few broken toes and ribs. One year in nationals, she fractured her knee cap, but kept playing to help her team make it to quarter-finals.” Mrs. Yackey says that Ultimate Frisbee has had a massive impact on her life. She believes that she is the person she is today because of her time playing Ultimate Frisbee. She told us, “I became a much better person after I started playing Ultimate.” She attributed this to it being a “self-officiated sport,” which forced her to “use conflict resolution and communication to discuss calls and plays with the other team even during heated times.” Mrs. Yackey also says many good people play the sport, which helped her growing up. Our final question was, “Do you think more people should play this sport?” Mrs. Yackey responded: “10658923758437598345934%. Absolutely. Without a doubt. Honestly, everyone’s life would be better by playing even one game.”

Honorable Mentions
We weren’t able to interview every teacher who has played a sport, so here are some honorable mentions:

Mr. Stackhouse – Hockey & Golf

Ms. Desbrow – Swimming

Mr. Lovering – Baseball

Mrs. Akery – Softball and Karate

Mr. Percy – Rugby

Mrs. McCall – Basketball

Dr. Lupo – Cheerleading

Mr. Williams – Soccer, Baseball, and Basketball

Mrs. Langley – Soccer, Basketball, and Golf

Mrs. Floyd – Soccer

Mrs. Beuk – Cross Country, Track & Field, Volleyball, and Soccer

Dr. Francis – Basketball, Cross Country

All of these teachers praise the value of sports and continue some sort of sport in their adult lives,