MOUNT VERNON — It’s said the future is now.
That’s a good philosophy for someone running a high school sports program.
Often, a successful high school sports program is a reflection of a solid and well-run middle school program. That pipeline must be continually stocked with talented and involved youngsters who are developing their skills in preparation for their high school years.
That involvement has been re-energized at East Knox Middle School, where participation in sports was down until this year.
“This year, we’ve got more kids out than we know what to do with,” said East Knox athletic director Derick Busenburg. “I think part of it has to do with the new building. I don’t know what it is. It’s hard to put your finger on it, but something in the environment is better. It’s just a more conducive atmosphere.”
The excitement at East Knox is backed up by the numbers.
“At one point, we had 20 kids out for both the seventh-grade and eighth-grade boys junior high basketball team,” said Busenburg. “That’s 40 kids that are out for 24 spots. Our numbers in junior high wrestling are up quite a bit as well. It’s incredible. It’s exactly what we want to see because we know that is the future of each of our programs.”
Fredericktown athletic director Kirk Manns sees no dropoff, but in his nine years with the program, he has seen the numbers fluctuate over time. Overall, participation is strong at the junior high level.
“Some junior high classes will be heavy with football players one year,” said Manns. “Some will be heavy with cross country and some will be heavy with volleyball. You’ll also have the occasional year where you’re light in one of those sports. As far as kids going out, percentage-wise, Fredericktown has been pretty consistent since the time I have been here.”
The news is good at Clear Fork as well, but for different reasons.
“Our middle school numbers are pretty solid,” said Clear Fork athletic director Steve Suter. “We instituted a ‘no-cut’ policy at the middle school level last year and our numbers are up a little bit. It was a philosophy chance. The kids at the lower levels are just starting out. You never know how they are going to develop — how big they’ll get or how strong.”
At East Knox, there are more youths going out for sports than there are spots available.
“For the girls eighth-grade [basketball] team, we had about 15 girls out, and unfortunately, we had to cut about four,” said Busenburg. “We hate to have to cut kids at any level, especially the junior high level. Unfortunately, it’s a struggle for resources. To keep 25 kids on a team, to do those players justice, you should have at least three coaches — especially for basketball, where only five can play at a time. If we could have a ‘no-cut’ policy, we would, but just like everywhere, resources are tight.”
“Our seventh-grade girls will have an ‘A’ team and a ‘B’ team,” said Suter. “We try to put the kids out there as much as we can and have them work on their skills. If we have to add an additional coach, we do. There’s transportation costs, but our board felt it was something they wanted to do.”
It appears one of the common threads in the success of the three programs is the amount of involvement the middle school athletes have with the older varsity players.
“One of our main objectives is to develop a seventh through 12th mentality, with the head coach being the head of that program and not just the varsity team,” said Busenburg. “That really developes a sense of pride among those younger players. They want to be part of that bigger group. The junior high kids look up to the varsity players, and the more we get those junior high players around the varsity kids, the better that is for everyone.”
Fredericktown engenders that relationship from the beginning of a young athlete’s scholastic life.
“We have a unique situation in Fredericktown where we have all the grades, K through 12, under one roof,” said Manns. “The high school coaches as well as the teachers and principals interact on a daily basis with middle school and even elementary school kids. Also, our brand-new junior high gym is probably no more than 100 yards away from our high school gym. That makes it easy for our high school coaches to walk over and watch junior high basketball or volleyball practices.”
