heimer wrote:Every board meeting that comes up, someone attempts to introduce the idea of 6-man football, just to keep small towns with an identity.
I don't like the idea at all, as I believe, if we're going to endorse 6-man football, we might as well endorse 3-man halfcourt basketball. Sure, it's not the real game, but who cares as long as the name on the front of the shirt gets represented.
But it does beg the point, with an additional class, would we not have more teams.
We seem to think that our declining number of teams is a reason to swear off another class. But if there was a decent-sized middle class, some co-ops would likely dissolve.
I mean, if we're going to entertain the idea of 6-man football to sustain a small town's identity, then why not let Finley-Sharon and Hope-Page have their own basketball teams by giving them a smaller class to compete in. Heck, we had three teams from Dakota Prairie at one time, so the model works even for kids that attend school together.
6 man footballs a joke. FB needs to drop to 3 classes in my opinion. Have your top 16 in a class/middle 32 in a class/bottom 50 some play 9 man. I don't believe the number of teams would increase at all if 3 classes were introduced in basketball. The reason schools co-op is because one of the schools no longer has the numbers to field a team. I find it hard to believe that adding a class would prompt 15 extra kids to decide to suit up. And I actually remember when Dakota Prairie field 4 teams----Tolna--McVille---Petersberg---Aneta. Now combined they have about 225 kids K-12. Travel is also a concern with adding a 3rd class. With the basketball season being 19 games (21 for super-regional schools) its inevitable that games will need to be played during weeknights...tough on kids if they have to travel 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours one way for games. And YES, I know the class A's do it. I completely disagree with the "town identity" statement.