It’s very common to be active in Missoula. Besides spending time downtown, shopping, or going to one of our many restaurants, most pastimes involve getting exercise and being outside. Many people play sports, even after they are out of high school or college. A youth survey in 2024 said that 69% of people in Missoula put parks and recreation as the most important facet in the community.

Missoula provides a unique atmosphere to host these sports. Missoula has 21 trails covering a total of 3,841 miles, promoting hiking and running, according to Trail Link. It has a skate park, three different places to rock climb indoors,  three large rivers filled with diverse species of fish, and four national forests in the surrounding area. This environment and culture heavily influences what people can do recreationally.  A survey made in 2024 said that 66% of people used open spaces or forests provided by the town at least once a week.

However, while it’s clear many adults recreate outdoors in Missoula, some teenage students also take advantage of these opportunities before they’ve even left high school.

Throughout Missoula County Public Schools, there are many students who do sports or activities not affiliated with their school just because of the vast amount of opportunities that Missoula provides for recreation.These opportunities range from the 30 outdoor pickleball courts, all the way to the vast amount of trails around town providing mountain biking courses, such as Bellevue bike park and Syringa bike skills park. Many students take these up as hobbies, but others take it to a more extreme level; they take it up as a lifestyle.

One of these people is Hurleigh Pino, a sophomore at Hellgate High School. Pino is part of Freestone’s rock climbing team, the Gnar Pirates. He started climbing at age six, but took a break for a couple of years.

“About two years ago, a friend gave me a call and asked if I wanted to go, and I said yeah, and I just haven’t stopped,” Pino said.  “I have a lot of fun here and it’s a great place to hang out.”

Hurleigh Pino, a sophomore at Hellgate High School, climbing an overhang route at Freestone climbing gym. (Photo Provided). 

The culture of rock climbing is one of the best parts, he says. “In other sports, you sometimes see fighting, like hockey or football. In climbing competitions, it’s really different, you have people cheering you on even though you’re competing against each other,” Pino explained.  “It’s just a group of people wanting to see each other succeed, which I think is amazing, it’s a great part of this sport.”

Pino also mentioned that a great way to start for beginning climbers was an event called fall fest, which took place at the end of October. Pino said this is an annual event where anyone can sign up and climb.

“It’s a super fun community for anyone, you can sign up even if you’re not a climber. It provides an opportunity to get into the rock climbing community and see what it’s all about,” Pino said. 

Rock climbing isn’t the only “other” sport students partake in. When you think of nonconformist sports, the first thing that may come to mind is skateboarding. It’s historically known as a creative way of expressing yourself with a notorious “rebel” culture. 

Board of Missoula is a skate shop here in Missoula. Opened in 1989, it has been a keystone of skateboarding here since.

The Board of Missoula is closely located with the MOBASH skate park, a very popular skate park among skaters. The park opened in 2006, with Tony Hawk himself making an appearance at the opening.

Liam Townley, a skateboarder here at Big Sky, is actually sponsored by the Board of Missoula.

Townley started skateboarding at age five, when he was first introduced to the sport by his dad. After taking a break from skateboarding, he started back up again shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked why he continued skateboarding, Townley said, “mostly my friends, and the community surrounding it.” 

“A lot of the businesses that are familiar with the skate scene are super supportive and sometimes will sponsor events,” Townley explained. “Missoula is getting more involved by giving skaters permission to fix up the parks and are even starting to design a new skate park.”

With people coming to Missoula in search of athletic opportunities, we also have people coming out of our town that go on to become famous within their respective communities. Students can also take their athletics to college. The University of Montana is an encouraging aspect of young people looking to compete in sports. One sport where students can compete, express themselves and actually get a degree related to their athletics is dance. The UM dance team has a very similar purpose to our own dance team, which is to bring up excitement and engagement in different sporting events.

Dancing has always been a key part of Missoula and MCPS culture, with Big Sky itself having their very own dance team as of last year. “I think that since they’ve come along, they’ve had a really positive impact,” says Big Sky principal and activities director Jack Young. “Not only do they bring up the energy and student support here, they encourage parents and grandparents to the games, which really brings up the attendance.”

One student at Big Sky who contributes to the dance culture a lot with not only being part of the dance team but also doing competitive Irish dancing is senior Sarah Jacobson. Irish dance is another event that is connected to Missoula’s roots, with 16.8% of Missoulians being Irish, according to Statistical Atlas.   

“We (the dance team) really have a big impact on the environment of games- that’s one of the main purposes of the dance team, to make football games an exciting thing to go to and to really keep the energy high,” Jacobson said. “And that level of high energy and school spirit really carries into the rest of school.”

Jacobson also mentioned that dancing is definitely part of Missoula culture as a whole, too.

“It really helps Missoula stay well rounded and well-balanced, especially with us being kind of close to Butte, there’s a lot of crossover with Irish, Celtic, and Gaelic culture, and that sort of helps us stay in touch with our roots,” Jacobson said. 

All of these students do sports unsanctioned by the school, so how is that viewed from an administrator’s perspective?

Here at Big Sky, administrators have mixed opinions about it. On one hand, school sports bring opportunities to make friends and have things like a student section, while non-school sports don’t. 

However, non-school sports also have their benefits, as voiced by Sabrina Beed, one of our vice principals. 

“Not every sport is represented at the high school level. Sports like hockey, lacrosse, boxing,” Beed said. “Making sure kids have those opportunities is really important, because that’s their passion.”