This opinion piece solely represents the views of the writer.

As fall registration week comes to a close at Gustavus, I again noticed something that baffled my body, bewildered my brain, and stumped my soul. A varsity sport is worth thirteen-hundredths of a Personal Fitness requirement.So what is that you ask? Allow me to explain.

A Personal Fitness requirement, or (FIT) makes up half of the Lifelong Fitness credit. The other half of the Lifelong Fitness Credit is a Lifetime Activity (ACT) requirement. In order to graduate from Gustavus a student must complete both a half credit in Personal Fitness and a half credit in Lifetime Activity.

Gustavus describes the credits as following: “The Personal Fitness requirement (FIT) encourages exploration of cardiorespiratory fitness and its importance. Students learn how to set appropriate goals to improve fitness, engage in regular aerobic exercise, and acquire knowledge regarding health promotion, disease prevention, wellbeing, and relaxation. The Lifetime Activity requirement (ACT) encourages students to select courses across a range of activity areas based on personal interest to develop an appreciation for lifetime physical activity and skills associated with such activities.”Okay Gustavus, fair enough. Exercise is important, especially in today’s America where Burger King sells hotdogs and pizza is a vegetable. However, at the same time, 0.13 for a varsity sport? Are you serious? How little do you value the fitness and physical activity your athletes put in? Let’s look at an example.

Take imaginary Freshman Football player Jack McKumquat for example. Jack comes in three weeks before fall classes start to begin summer training camp. Jack has roughly three hours of practice a day, six days a week.

So before school has even started, Jack has already spent 54 hours practicing a strenuous sport for the college, and that’s not including the time he’s spent in the weight room, or meetings.

Classes start, and Jack sticks with football, and continues to practice and play with the team all season through mid-November. For his effort Jack receives 0.13 of a FIT credit.

For contrast lets look at Jack’s imaginary classmate, Nick O’Shaggyraisins. Nick has decided not to play sports at Gustavus, and to instead divert all his focus on his studies. While registering, Nick signs up for a class called Conditioning. Nick attends three fifty-minute classes for thirteen weeks. Nick gets some good workouts in, loses some weight and feels healthier.

Nick spent about 32 hours in his activity, which is about twenty hours less than Jack spent practicing with the football team during summer camp alone, before the season even started. For his efforts Nick receives 0.5 of a FIT credit. You don’t need to be a tenured philosophy professor to see that that’s not logical.

Now that’s not to discount the work students in FIT classes do, or the whole Personal Fitness program. I think it’s a phenomenal requirement, for everyone who is not a student-athlete.

Athletes put in far more time doing a physical activity than students in FIT classes during just one season, and yet it takes us four seasons to earn the credit. If that seems like a huge f-you, it’s probably because it is.

Now, I don’t know a single student athlete who plays a sport because they want the FIT credit. We do it because we love it. However, ranking our time and effort so low is offensive. The four season commitment becomes an even larger issue when you consider the following, imaginary scenario.

In two years, Jack returns for his junior year of football but suffers a bad concussion in a game, the fourth concussion of his life. Putting his long-term health first, Jack regrettably hangs up his cleats and quits football. Jack now must take a FIT class if he wants to graduate.

That means the hundreds of hours he put in in the previous two years are worthless in terms of a FIT credit. Although that particular scenario was imaginary, similar scenarios happen every year, and it’s not fair.

ACT credits are a whole different monster. Although slightly different in its definition, the irony that you get more ACT credits for a half semester class called “Beginner’s Tennis” than you do for being on the Men or Women’s Varsity Tennis team for a season is not lost on me.

What I propose is simple. Upon completion of a full season on a varsity athletics team, a student-athlete should be awarded either a half FIT credit, or a half ACT credit.

Two seasons on a Varsity athletics team, would thus earn a student-athlete enough Personal Fitness credits to graduate. This would have plentiful benefits. First of all, student-athletes would be rewarded justly for their time and effort competing in a physical activity. Secondly, the four-season method, a method that does not take into account career-ending injuries, or student-athletes who graduate early, would be dissolved.

Thirdly, it would encourage students to go out for sports, boosting participation and school spirit. Sure, plenty of Gusties still won’t go out for sports, but they are free to enjoy the wonderful FIT and ACT classes Gustavus has to offer instead! Frankly I think one season of Varsity athletics should be enough for both requirements, but hey, I’m taking baby steps here.

I think what I said makes sense, and if you do too, please write an email petitioning the office of the registrar to consider revising the Personal Fitness graduation requirements. If the Ivory Coast national soccer team can singlehandedly end a war, why can’t a group of D3 athletes change a school policy?