The high school football season is already two weeks in.
Yes, kids don’t really get a summer anymore, with equipment day coming Aug. 1 this season and the first practice coming the next day.
I’m looking at the high school baseball players who also play legion ball. Or even the players that play their high school season in the summer and must turn around and practice football a few weeks later.
Next year, football is scheduled to begin in July.
That’s not a typo; the high school football season in Wisconsin will begin in July next season.
OK, I understand it’s a physically demanding sport, and it’s a tough turnaround to have a team of 50 guys ready to put their bodies on the line and be on the same page in less than three weeks.
But where does it end?
Will the season continue to cut into summers – a sacred time for many that includes family vacations, good, old-fashioned summer fun and much-needed recharging of the batteries?
Two longtime assistant football coaches, one from Wilmot and another from Lake Geneva Badger, are stepping down this fall, and other local assistant coaches have expressed concern about the early start of the football season.
The first games are set for Friday, Aug. 19, so it’s hard to expect teams to have their first practice in mid-August.
Back in the 1990s at Burlington High School, we started around Aug. 10, I believe, and had our first game the last Friday of August.
Student fans only “missed” one game, as many wouldn’t come to games if it wasn’t during the school year.
Now, by the time the kids are in class, two games are gone with only seven left.
Next year, with practice starting the last Monday of July, players will be expected to invest five weeks of their 13-week summer into the football season.
Interest declining?
With fear of concussions, sports specialization and an overall violent nature threatening football’s very existence, I’m not sure the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, the state’s high school sports governing body, is helping the situation.
Club teams are turning many potential multi-sport athletes into year-round, single-sport addicts and at times taking away opportunities, as athletes are often pulled into different directions and influenced by various coaches with future playing time as leverage.
With all of that working against football and the very real dangers of helmet-to-helmet collisions, concussions and future brain problems, many parents are afraid to allow their students to play football.
Throw in the humid, unforgiving heat of the dog days of summer, and it’s not easy for coaches to have large football programs to compete these days.
Williams Bay had to disband its football team this year due to only nine players on the roster. Granted, the school has an enrollment of just 170, but football is trending downwards, and starting the season in July will only make things worse.
My quick solution?
Start the season in mid-August, and have the first game be the last Friday of August or the first Friday of September.
Sure, this makes the state tournament come in late November, but football is supposed to be played in cold weather. That’s why players have those cozy pads and uniforms.
As a former player, I love football and want the future to be better, and safer, than ever.
With more options sports-wise for students, and more health concerns by parents and players, football is in jeopardy.
It’s still the most popular sport in the country, and NFL Sundays have replaced church for many – and that may not change any time soon.
But at the basic levels, like high school, we need to cultivate learning, fun and balance in the school community.
Summer still matters
Kids don’t need to play baseball into June, club ball or Legion through July and hop back right into it with football in late July.
When will the family vacation to visit cousins in Colorado be valued? Or even the weekend in Wisconsin Dells?
Or simply quality time with one’s parents and siblings, especially for the double-teacher family where summer is all the time they have?
High school football is simply one aspect of a student’s summer.
Fun, family, work and friends are other aspects, and are just as important, no matter how much that kid loves the game.
Assistant coaches will keep leaving, and kids will continue to choose summer over high school football if this trend continues.
You could argue students that want to be on the field are there, and that is a good thing, but overall program numbers for most schools are nowhere near where they were years ago.
Open enrollment probably has something to do with that as well, as supremely talented athletes continue to drive out of their way to play for a “winning” program.
While Aug. 1 is already a problematic start date, next year will be July 31, and it’s July 30 in 2018.
That’s just the way the calendar works out, but don’t be surprised if more people throw up their hands and say, “That’s too much.”
The summer is a time to kick back, relax and take a break from the hectic rigors of the school year.
Is it possible something as fun and positive as sports is taking that away?
It’s time to re-evaluate our priorities, and it starts with the WIAA and parents working together.
-
-
-
-
-