Athletic Excellence

A Strong Tradition of Athletic Excellence
Posted on 10/21/2018
athletic_excellence

The banners touting county, district, and state championships that hang in the new gym, like the trophies standing proudly in the archive room, reflect a tradition of athletic excellence and student-athlete participation at Wyomissing Area JHSH.

Tradition built success. These are the words athletic director Mr. Frank Ferrandino uses when he is asked to describe the school’s athletic program.

“Wyomissing Area JHSH is fortunate,” says Mr. Ferrandino. “The school has a strong tradition of excellence. The expectations are that our student-athletes will try their best to compete at the state level each year.”

The Wyomissing Area School District believes that the purpose of an interscholastic athletic program is to provide learning experiences that will contribute to the personal, physical, and psychological development of the individual student-athlete. In partnership with athletes, coaches, and parents, it is the Athletic Department’s mission to create an environment that will complement and enrich the educational experience for all students.

According to the annual High School Athletics Participation Survey (2016–17), conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations, Pennsylvania continues to rank sixth in the nation in sports participation, with 319,153 students participating in high-school athletics. The national number reached an all-time high of 7,963,535. The number of female participants also reached an all-time high, with the largest increase since the 2000–2001 report.

Wyomissing Area JHSH offers 15 boys’ varsity sports and 13 girls’ varsity sports. While there were several district championship teams in the 1970s, it wasn’t until the mid-1980s that the varsity teams became competitive. Mr. Ferrandino was a student at the time, and he remembers athletic director Mr. Matt Ecker working hard to make athletics important to the student body. The success of his efforts spilled over into the community. And in the early 2000s, Wyomissing Area Senior High began to dominate.

To date, the Wyomissing Area JHSH has:

  • 21 team state championships across nine different sports;
  • 6 individual or relay champions state champions across 8 different sports;
  • 74 district championships across 12 different sports; and
  • 122 county championships across 13 different sports.

“I am most proud that our championships are spread out across many sports,” says Mr. Ferrandino. “We don’t have one or two dominant sports, and this is due to strong coaching, strong community and parental support, and strong administration support.”