Athletics Program
In 1893, students from SI and Sacred Heart competed in a rugby game, marking the beginning of the oldest high school rivalry west of the Rocky Mountains.
Since then, SI students have competed in nearly every sport available to high school students and have excelled at each of them. Approximately 860 students compete on 65 teams in 26 sports at SI, and many play more than one sport.
At SI, we measure our athletic success not so much in the win-loss columns but in terms of the values our players have by the end of the season — values such as sportsmanship, teamwork, fair play and hard work. We believe in the classical notion of a “sound mind in a sound body” and offer sports that students will play long after they graduate from SI.
Still, we’re proud of successes on the field, court, water and diamond. We have dozens of league, sectional, NorCal, state and national championships. Our football team was ranked first in the nation in the 1960s with 17 straight wins, and we have sent two of our grads to the Olympics (one of whom won a silver medal). Three of our graduates coach in the NFL, and one of our grads, Igor Olshansky ’00, plays defense for the San Diego Chargers. One of our grads, Charlie Silvera ’42, helped the Yankees win six World Series victories.
We even captured our first international victory on July 2, 2006, when our varsity 8 boys‚ rowing team, coming from back-to-back national championships (in 2005 and 2006), took first place at the Royal Henley Regatta in England. That team was ranked first in the U.S. (of all high school and college crews) by Mike Vespoli, and Rowing News ranked the crew one of the best in modern history.
We offer a wide-range of PE classes, a weight training & conditioning program with facilities that rival any gym, and professional trainers who teach students how to care for athletes both on and off the field.
Traditions
We have a number of athletic traditions, including the Bruce-Mahoney Trophy to honor grads from both schools who died in World War II. Click here for a brief history of some of these great athletic traditions.
Athletic Facilities
SI offers some of the finest athletic facilities for our athletes including
- two gymnasiums for basketball and volleyball
- the J. B. Murphy Field & Jack Wilsey Track for our football, lacrosse, soccer, field hockey and track & field teams
- four tennis courts and the Herbst Natatorium for our swimming & diving program and for our water polo teams
In addition, we play baseball at Marchbanks Field in Daly City, and we’re in the process of modernizing two more facilities in Daly City for our other field sports. Our national- and international-champion rowing teams compete at Lake Merced, about two miles south of the school.