Opinion

Rembrandt Needs to be Remembered

Sports at Robinson need a new place to practice.

Allison Bartlett, Senior Staff Writer

January 29, 2026

The fenced off field on Rembrandt.

Basketballs on the tennis court are a typically unusual sight; however, at Robinson, it’s fairly normalized. We have specialized fields for some sports such as softball and baseball; however, every other sport either has to fight for the field or the gym. Between the numerous sports Robinson has to offer, this presents a problem of space and time.

There is an area of land available on Rembrandt Drive that was originally supposed to be a practice field when Robinson was being rebuilt. However, it seems like plans fell through, and now the land is owned by Hillsborough County, but nothing is currently being done with it. We need to follow through with these plans again. The primary issue that Hillsborough County is concerned about is money. However, over the years, HCPS has made some questionable purchases, such as the digital clocks rather than keeping analog, and the weird spinning chairs with the small plastic desks attached to them. I think in the future HCPS should make less of these type purchases to budget a bit for Robinson to have a new field in the future.

Sure, you can split the field and gym we currently have now in half to make it fit more sports, but this still presents an issue with sports that practice all year and the sports that only practice seasonally. Also, it starts to become a bit cramped when sharing a space, especially with the larger sports. For example, in the fall season, flag football, soccer, and the marching band were all on the football field. It felt a bit chaotic with footballs and soccer balls whizzing by and the loud noise coming from the band.

Personally, I’ve had to go to Adum and Monroe middle schools to find a space to practice, which is annoying because traveling with an extensive amount of equipment, particularly loading everything into the back of a car, is frustrating at best. It takes away actual practice time, which could prove to be detrimental to some sports. Rembrandt would be closer and student athletes could walk to the field and be there quickly.

Robinson is struggling to keep up with its sports, and the rest of the school got an update. Why shouldn’t the athletics departments be updated as well?

Robinson Sports

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About the Contributor

Allison Bartlett, Senior Staff Writer

Allison Bartlett is a junior and a staff writer for Knight Writers. This is her second year on staff. Bartlett hopes to continue writing more opinion pieces or have more opportunities to cover unique events, such as the culinary competition she wrote a feature on last year. “Going to the event [culinary competition] was really fun, I felt like I was part of it and it was nice that I was helping Chef too. It was so interesting, I didn’t know that culinary was so big, and all the things that go into it,” Bartlett said. Bartlett is an active member of the IB program and is beginning the arduous junior year. “I can tell it’s going to be a lot of work, already I have two essays and a project due this week,” Bartlett said. To wind down after school she enjoys finding funny movies or shows on prime video and is currently enjoying the animated series “Hazbin Hotel”. Additionally, outside of school, Bartlett enjoys participating in Starlets and the friends she found through the team. “I originally joined because in freshman year, I found myself with just large chunks of time where I was laying around doing nothing, so this is a good way to fill it and socialize at the same time,” Bartlett said. At home she can be found multitasking to the extreme: doing homework, listening to a pop-rock album and watching a new show all at once. “Yeah honestly I feel like I’m always doing random things at home or like two things at once. I just like to explore and find a good playlist or a good show for the day,” Bartlett said. In the future, she aspires to attend the University of Florida due to its attractive components and her affinity to Florida’s warm weather. (Profile by Anika Sanka)