A new poll conducted at Marco Island Academy shed light on the state of sports at the school. The survey got 122 responses from a wide variety of students in each grade, allowing for a clear insight into the feelings of our students.

Volleyball and football received the highest results when asked what sports were followed the most as seen in the graph below.

Judging by the percentages for each class, it is evident that freshmen and seniors are the most interested in sports. Roughly 12% of the students in each of the grades reported that they did not regularly follow or play any sports at Marco Island Academy. Sophomores and freshmen had a quarter of their respective classes say that they did not follow or play any sports at Marco Island Academy.

Freshmen had the highest attendance at the football games, with 83% of freshman respondents saying they attended at least one game this season with the other classes’ results being lower than freshman, each class still surpassed 75% attendance at one of our football games.

As a follow-up to this question, the poll asked students to grade the convenience of our home field, Winterberry Park. A one in the survey signified incredibly inconvenient and a five means that it was incredibly convenient; only 17% of surveys gave a one or a two, meaning that 83% of people who took the survey found it tolerable as a host for Marco Island Academy football games.

While it would be nice to hold football games at Marco Island Academy’s new soccer field, size regulations currently prevent this. With this data, MIA students are at least content with the football team playing at Winterberry Field. 

Furthermore, the survey asked what sports students believe Marco Island Academy has to offer; as an extra element to the question, the survey included two sports that are not currently offered by the school as of now. Students were correctly able to identify which sports the school offered, except for tennis which only received 70% of the responses. With the results of the survey, it seems advisable that the tennis team should receive more of the spotlight. With the recent success of pickleball in Southwest Florida, it only seems right to seize the opportunity and promote the tennis team more often.

When students were asked what sports Marco Island Academy should add, the most popular option was boy’s volleyball. MIA offers a girl’s volleyball team but does not offer a boy’s volleyball team. It remains unknown whether there are enough interested players to field a boy’s volleyball team. The previously mentioned survey result showing that volleyball is followed by the students only stands as further evidence that a boy’s volleyball team might succeed. Flag football and softball were offered in the survey, but they failed to receive the same support that boy’s volleyball received. 

Ultimately, the data shows that Marco Island Academy is receiving attention from the community as a whole. As the years go by, more Marco Island Academy athletes get recognized, and we can only hope that our athletic programs continue to succeed.