Whitehall district board discusses athlete cuts in high school sports

Faced with possibly having more athletes than the school can manage in volleyball this fall, the Whitehall school board is looking to the public for a solution — which could include implementing cuts on its high school sports teams.

Historically, the district has not cut athletes from its high school programs, but Superintendent Mike Beighley said there are currently 51 players signed up to play volleyball this fall. Having so many players causes issues, ranging from the cost of coaches, transportation and uniforms to safety concerns.

“When you look at 51 kids, can you safely practice volleyball in the gym? No, you cannot,” Beighley told the board at last week Mondays’ regular meeting. “Don’t take anything I’m saying as ‘I think we ought to be cutting.’ I don’t necessarily think we should, but we can’t keep going down this path of having 51 kids on a volleyball team and have parents expect to have highly competitive opportunities. We have managed a lot of these things over the years and I don’t think we can manage our way out of them anymore.” 

The district also had an issue with a large number of players out for softball. While those were the only two sports mentioned, Beighley said suggested that the district would have to place a maximum number of athletes on all sports. The conversation centered around high school sports last week, but Beighley said there are similar issues in the middle school programs. 

In addition to issues with cost and safety, Beighley said district coaches are dealing with “entitlement issues” and the behavior of parents, which is “all based around expectations about who is playing and which coach made a decision about that.”

Board President Jason Molis said he has coached youth volleyball including C-Team at the high school level and has witnessed issues with talented players who don’t work as hard as athletes with less natural talent. That dynamic, he said, has caused problems and not playing the hardest working kids “sucks, but it also sucks for the kids who are high-performing athletes who have to be not getting the time that they can get.” 

“There are going to be athletes who are not going to achieve that varsity starting level, they’re not,” Molis said. “I was not the best of the best. Please come talk to me, anyone out there. Any parent. Tell me what (a solution) looks like and as a board, let’s come up with the best decision for our kids.” 

Board member Jon Sygulla said he coached at a larger school that cut athletes — both because of a maximum number of athletes allowed and ability level. He seemed to not be in favor of cutting athletes, saying “It goes back to what are high school athletics for?” 

Board member Emily Herness mentioned the benefit of teaching students work ethic. 

“And I don’t disagree,” Beighley said. “Philosophically, that’s the way I’ve been forever, you know that. But then we’ve got to have our coaches’ backs and we have to start setting some standards for some behavior from parents who expect their kids to play regardless because they’re entitled or because they’re a senior or a junior.” 

Board member Stephanie Brueggen said setting philosophical guides for coaches would be helpful “and if their views differ from what this group thinks or the administration, then it’s harder to stand behind them when they’re doing something different.” 

The board didn’t take any action at last week’s meeting and instead implored the public to contact members to provide input.

“I like the idea of being public about this,” Brueggen said.

The board will likely  discuss the matter again at its July 22 meeting, with the possibility of setting a special hearing or meeting on July 29. Beighley requested members of the public to call and let district officials know their thoughts. “Don’t call irritated, just call and tell us what you want,” Beighley said.