Bear River’s Athletics program draw students to compete in sports, stay in great physical shape, and provide school spirit. Unlike theater, where breaking a leg is encouraged, in sports, it is typically avoided. The Family ID registration program strives to combat such issues from arising with many Bruins agreeing that it provides a more efficient and convenient method for sports registration.
Family ID is a registration program designed to primarily aid schools in filing paperwork for various activities. At Bear River, the software is used to easily keep records of many sports related documents.
Athletics Director Scott Savoie provided his insight on the topic, contrasting the situation in years past.
“In order to participate in Athletics, there are several consent forms, a physical, and agreements that must be taken care of before an athlete can ever start a sport. It has always been that way. Up until about 5 years ago, parents and students had to turn in hard copies of these items. Many times, paperwork was turned in without vital information included. Then all those papers had to be kept on file someplace in the Student Store. It took countless man power hours to pass out, collect, and store this paperwork,” said Savoie. “And then came Family ID! All of those hard copies went away and athletes now register for athletics online. I do not know of a single high school that still collects hard copies for athletic registration. Everyone has moved to an online data collection system like Family ID.”
Many sports players, like Junior Jacob Vaughan playing Varsity Football, are used to the Family ID system.
“The Family ID is important, and obviously athletes should inform their coaches and staff about themselves and their health,” said Vaughan.
No system is without criticism, such is the same with Family ID.
Junior Aden Mattson on the tack team was mild in his point of view.
“The Family ID system is really simple to use, the hardest part was trying to get to form to fill it out, which I had a little bit of confusion about,” he said. “I think that it would be simpler if they had a direct link to Family ID on the school website under athletics, because you still have to select what sport you’re filling out on the form anyways.”
Vaughan pointed out issues that arise from playing multiple sports.
“I play multiple sports, but it’s never obvious when we have to re-input the information and get a new physical, or if the previous data will suffice. Personally, I feel like it would make more sense to have a set point at the start of the year that you have to turn it in, even if you play a sport later in the year and not right after summer vacation,” he explained.
Highly critical of Family ID, Junior Dominic Hartman from the Varsity Golf team provided a different opinion towards the Athletics program using this form of registration.
“I dislike the whole online website and think it would be easier if you could pick up the physical form at the office then return the finished form to the office,” he said.
Director Savoie gave the most positive opinion regarding Family ID, citing a wide range of its uses.
“There is not much to not like! If a student is missing something, they are sent an email. Their Customer Service is very helpful for students and staff. Nobody likes having to go back and fix a mistake on registration and the ‘old school hard copy system’ was even worse and involved BR staff to contact parents, get the form back for correction, and wait for it to come back to us. Now those corrections can be made 24 hours a day from your home,” Savoie said.
