Detroit Osborn second baseman Jalen Valentine, left, tries to catch Detroit East English Village outfielder Curron Sutter-Neal stealing a base during the PSL baseball championship at Comerica Park on May 20, 2013, in Detroit.
Fielding high school athletic teams in some sports is going to become easier beginning in the fall.
The representative council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association recently approved a plan to allow cooperative programs to exist between schools in nine additional sports — without regard to the size of the schools involved — as long as the schools are in the same district.
Sports affected by the ruling are baseball, bowling, competitive cheer, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis and wrestling.
Schools currently can co-op in any sport, but the total enrollment of those schools cannot exceed 1,000 students. Sports with fewer than 250 participating schools, such as hockey and lacrosse, are permitted to have co-op teams as long as the total enrollments do not exceed 3,500 students.
Cooperative programs will be approved on a case-by-case basis and must show a longstanding lack of participation.
This could be a godsend for districts such as Detroit, Lansing, Flint and Saginaw, which are struggling to field teams in certain sports.
“I thought this all started with the Lansing schools, to be honest with you,” Lansing Sexton athletic director Chris Henderson said. “We submitted a request just last month, based on our participation numbers for boys and girls tennis and for golf.”
Alvin Ward, director of athletics for Detroit Public Schools, believes that this change will be well-received in Public School League.
“I’m going to recommend it, too,” Ward said. “There’s an interest at all of the schools but just not enough kids to fill the interest. Once I put that out there and it becomes public, it might help us out.”
The PSL already has cooperative teams in swimming. Ward pointed out that Detroit Pershing did not win a game in baseball nor softball this season and would be an ideal co-op partner with another school in those sports.
“We can just look at the records to kind of look at what the success levels are and see who might want to join forces,” he said. “This would help us to comprise some teams among schools that have low numbers and may not be competitive. In baseball and softball, it takes awhile to develop a good program.”
But Henderson, who also is Sexton’s wrestling coach, said that there can be a price to pay with co-op teams.
“There are some disadvantages,” he said. “No. 1, transportation — now having to go to multiple schools to pick up athletes. The other disadvantage, for me personally, as a coach, is the loss of the individuality. It’s no longer just your school.
“The advantages are participation numbers and teams would be fuller. No. 2, the overall district budget and the school athletic budgets wouldn’t be hit as hard because we’d be sharing those things. No. 3, an advantage is the opposite of a negative I gave you. It would be pulling the Lansing community together.
“Overall, it’s probably a positive move.”
The trend of dwindling enrollment numbers in districts like Lansing has taken a toll on athletic participation in nearly every sport. In the mid-1980s, Sexton had more than 2,100 students. Today, its enrollment is 610.
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Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.