Athletics at Haverford

Athletics teaches some of the most important life lessons. How are you going to work together as a team? What is your own role? How do you deal with disappointment? What do you need to do to be as successful as you can be? What we do in athletics is interwoven with the School's overall mission. John Nostrant, Director of Athletics

The Haverford School is a member of the Inter-Academic Athletic League (Inter-Ac), the oldest interscholastic athletic league in the country. Outdoor facilities include game fields for football, soccer, and lacrosse, a baseball diamond, track, tennis courts, and associated practice fields.

Our athletic field house includes four international squash courts with viewing pavilion; a six-lane, 25-meter swimming pool with one-meter diving platform; a wellness center with strength and cardiovascular training equipment, and a two-mat wrestling pavilion with flexible staging area and spectator stands. We also have three artificial turf fields (accommodating football, soccer, lacrosse, and Phys Ed classes) and one full grass field.

Our philosophy

Athletics are a vital part of the total curriculum of The Haverford School. As an extension of the academic classroom and traditional school day, many valuable lessons are learned through athletic participation. The learning objective of the athletic classroom is to foster an environment where young people reach their fullest potential intellectually, emotionally, and physically. Offering a diverse program of 16 interscholastic sports at The Haverford School requires team participation throughout its middle and upper school curricula.

Furthermore, the School strongly discourages boys from specializing in one particular sport. Rather, boys are encouraged to vary their athletic experiences in order to enhance diversity in learning. In addition to physical participation, students are also offered opportunities to contribute to teams in administrative capacities. The athletic experience at the Haverford School is dedicated to teaching the principles of participation, excellence, discipline, loyalty, self-confidence, enthusiasm, and cooperative learning. All constituencies of The Haverford School community embrace these qualities.

In Health and Physical Education class we aim to increase the students' awareness of total wellness. The concepts of physical, social, and emotional well being are reinforced through a series of age-appropriate units taught across all divisions.