Brewer Middle School Philosophy and Eligibility Philosophy Brewer Middle School sponsors teams in football, soccer, cross-country, track, basketball, baseball, softball, and cheering. Our teams compete against other schools in the Eastern Maine area. All students may try out for basketball, cross-country, cheering, soccer, track, and football. Boys may try out for baseball; girls may try out for softball. Basketball teams are organized into "A" and "B" teams for boys and girls--6th, 7th, and 8th graders on the "B" team and 6th, 7th, and 8th graders on the "A" team. Selection is based on skills demonstrated during tryouts. Athletes have a special responsibility to represent their school with dignity and good sportsmanship, keeping the following in mind: At the middle school level, our primary emphasis is not on winning, but on the development of our student athletes. All athletic opponents and visitors should be considered as guests and shown the respect and courtesy we would expect in return. Cheering should be for our team and not against our opponents. Courtesy and respect should be shown to game officials and decisions should be accepted graciously. Abusive comments and derogatory remarks are always in poor taste and deserve no place in our school program. Both athletes and spectators will be held accountable for their behavior. Athletes need to learn to win with humility and lose with grace. Academic Eligibility Academic eligibility will be determined on a trimesterly basis. Students declared ineligible will remain so for the entire trimester. Any student who receives more than one (1) failing grade will be declared ineligible. Any student in the sixth or seventh grade with more than one failing grade in the final trimester will be declared ineligible for the following season. All incoming sixth graders and new students enter as eligible athletes. Merit Eligibility Students who have reached six (6) demerits are ineligible for all extracurricular and team activities (tryouts, games, practices, banquets) until they have reduced their demerits to three (3). Students who become demerit ineligible a second time will remain ineligible. A student must be in school by 9:30 a.m. on the day of a practice or game in order to participate in an after school activity.