U46 cuts may run deep
Lower-level programs provide chance to play and develop skills to use at to
ELGIN — Last year, Billy Weber didn't play a single minute of a game while on the varsity soccer squad at Larkin High School in Elgin.
Weber's a goalie and his position had already been filled by a senior. But the underclassman gave his all at every practice, defending shots on goal, practicing goal kicks and doing drills. Despite his efforts, he was the team's second-string goalie.
(Marina Makropoulos/Staff Photographer)
(Marina Makropoulos/Staff Photographer)
(Marina Makropoulos/Staff Photographer)
But as a senior this year, Weber was a starter, and according to soccer Coach Ken Hall, "was key to us winning."
If he hadn't made the soccer squad the year before, he might not have had the ability nor the confidence to try out, let alone be a starter, Hall said.
It's a situation that is seen by coaches across the area: juniors who don't make the varsity squad often end up as stars the following year.
"If they wouldn't have been around last year, where would we have been this year?" Hall asked rhetorically.
Even though it's more typical for exceptional athletes in School District U46 to be good from the start, there are exceptions to the rule, coaches say.
Lower-level teams provide a chance to play for athletes who may not be as talented, are less experienced or are not as physically gifted, parents and coaches say. That chance can give them the skills to grow as a player and, in some cases, further their athletic careers.
More cuts planned
District officials announced at last week's board meeting that they will slash some athletic programs at the middle and high school levels as part of a plan to make $4.9 million in spending reductions to help balance next year's budget. The district eliminated all boys and girls middle-school "B" teams this fall.
In Superintendent Jose M. Torres' weekly message to the public Thursday afternoon, he said that reductions in middle and high school "B" teams will be made this spring.
And that's got coaches across the area more than a little upset.
Denise Sarna, girls varsity basketball coach at Bartlett High School, said, "Cuts to any levels of participation are devastating to our programs, and our kids suffer."
Brian Przybylski, a former wrestling coach and now varsity badminton coach at Larkin, says middle-school sports teams and lower-level teams at the high school level are needed to "build confidence and let the 'Michael Jordans' mature."
As an example, he compared the difference in programs between U46 and School District 303 in St. Charles. In U46, there are no wrestling teams at the middle-school level. In St. Charles, kids have been wrestling for four years by the time they get to high school.
"We had a kid who was 8-0 on the freshman mat and we threw him up there into a higher weight range. He never made it through the first round," Przybylski said. "He was wrestling men, not freshmen," when competing against St. Charles.
Przybylski also believes cutting lower-level teams at the high school level is a dangerous move.
"For boys, they become men during their sophomore and junior years. There's a big difference in speed and growing into your muscles and bones," he said. "If you cut lower-level teams, you're cutting your throat later on."
Jamie Peldonia, a dance coach at Bartlett, agreed.
This year, her junior varsity dance squad was cut. However, nearly half of the girls on the current varsity squad were on JV last year.
JV is "a huge building block" for girls to get faster and perfect their precise dance techniques, she said. "I know my girls who were on the JV team wouldn't have been as good this year without the experience last year."
If districts want to cut teams, she insisted, they should cut the "A" teams, because "these are the kids that are involved in traveling teams and outside sports" in addition to their "A" team experience. It's the "B" teams who never get a chance to play, she said.
More opportunity
Adults and students interviewed for this story also noted that sports programs outside the "big" ones — basketball, football, baseball, volleyball and soccer — give more young people an opportunity to participate.
Demi Maropoulos, a sophomore on Bartlett's varsity dance team, said, "If it weren't for dance team, I wouldn't have something to belong to. I'm not athletic. I can be in my own sport and it doesn't have to be soccer or basketball."
Steve Sabon, a U46 parent, concurs.
"Sports are an important part of school — not only the physical aspect but the social connection that it provides for the whole school," he said. "It allows for all kids to be able to find something they like to do and strive to do well academically to stay on the team."
Ryan Korn, Streamwood High School's head girls cross country and track and field coach, believes the cuts could exacerbate an already difficult situation.
"Our school already has problems with kids seeing their teams as losers, and not being able to compete with other schools due to funding, lack of feeder programs, and blue-collar homes that require them to work or baby-sit," he said. "But by taking away more of these sports, it will just add to the problem. Once these are gone, they will not come back."
Korn understands the money crunch as U46 tries to overcome a $53 million budget deficit. But if you add up the reductions to faculty and sports, then combine that with increasing class size, "this is quickly losing the feel of a school environment where there is spirit, excitement and pride," he said.
"How can we expect students to stay interested in school when the schools are taking away everything the students find interesting?" Korn said.
