Published: March 7, 2015
Six Rivers making a mess
Members of the Six Rivers Conference believe the road to
success is too tough. The solution? Cause a ruckus within the membership and
threaten disbandment from the WIAA if we don’t get our way.
Kind of sounds like a toddler, doesn’t it?
The idea of larger populations directly correlating to
success in athletics is hard to swallow. There have been plenty of programs
with less pickings of potential students, but have enjoyed success in
athletics.
However, let’s try and take a look at things from the Six
Rivers Conference’s perspective.
A story in Friday’s Daily News revealed how the conference
believes there is competitive imbalance because a collection of schools don’t
believe there is a fair chance of postseason advancement. The conference
schools believe this because its population is a disadvantage. That part is
true. Southwest Wisconsin is a rural section of the state, comparable to areas
north of Wausau, while other parts of the state are far more populous.
Having more students in a region can offer good things, such
as competition. However, success doesn’t always come with it.
But speaking of areas north of Wausau, let’s consider South
Shore High School in Port Wing — a sixhour drive from West Bend.
The South Shore girls basketball team is one of the premier
programs in the state. It has the top-two all-time leading scorers in state
history — Jolene Anderson and Megan Gustafson.
In the last five years, South Shore has lost 19 games — only
four in the last three seasons — and are consistent contenders to reach state;
it has been for more than a decade.
South Shore’s girls team finished the regular season ranked
No. 2 in the state’s Associated Press Division 5 poll.
The population of Port Wing, which is along Lake Superior?
164. South Shore’s enrollment? 52.
Look at Randolph’s boys basketball team from 2002-05. The
latest enrollment number for Randolph? 176.
Success in small towns and areas is possible.
Being able to have a larger population can help maintain a
program. However, the argument that population is a direct factor in success in
athletics doesn’t add up.
The Six Rivers Conference wants to level the playing field.
If it doesn’t get its way, there is the potential of some schools leaving the
WIAA.
So, let’s get this straight: You can’t advance in a
postseason tournament because larger populations have it better than you, so
the best solution is to leave the organization that sponsors state tournaments,
therefore excluding your school from those tournaments.
Is that really what’s best for the kids?
It’s said all the time the experience of high school
athletics outweighs the success or lack of success on the playing field or
court. That’s not what this behavior is teaching.
If anything, it almost comes off as we don’t believe our
kids are good enough to make it to state, so we have to make things easier for
them to do so.
If it’s not hard to achieve, then why bother?
Data doesn’t support nonpublic schools having it easier to
get to state than public schools.
Co-ops could potentially work in this situation. Try that
first before passing a bunch of enrollment multiplier figures that will
segregate member schools for no reason at all. Not to mention adopting a bunch
of goofy math equations in attempt to get fairness is tedious.
You want fairness? This is not the way to go.
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