Clarkson/Leigh No More?

[Dynasty Dreaming]

I mentioned the kids in a previous post. The video of the lady saying kids weren't good enough to make varsity so they need to be playing on their own makes me want to throw up. They play for a district championship in volleyball tomorrow. Why get on the bus?

Here's another thing to think about. The cost of rebranding and buying all new everything for sports can't sit well with some. That's a lot of money being burned and then a lot more being spent to get new stuff....only to have it last how long?

 

[o_runningback43]

Going to be an interesting district final tomorrow for the Clarkson-Leigh volleyball team.

 

[Bubman86]

It’s sad when people think about themselves only and not the ones being truly affected which in this case is the students.

 

[Bubman86]

I really hope those Leigh parents who wanted this enjoy seeing 14 kids on their 6 man roster next year wearing Panther gear and probably going sub .500 if that. What a short sighted move.

Leigh has no natural partners if the want to co-op again. They aren’t getting a bunch of Lakeview or Madison kids transferring to Leigh.

I feel awful for Clarkson. Hopefully the NSAA gives them a grace period to see if they can find a partner. And hopefully that partner is 7 miles on 91 in the other direction.

They could possibly do Stanton or Howells-Dodge.

 

[JAG164]

I thought the same thing, do they not offer JV and C team options if you want to be a part of the team? The school my kids go to is smaller than this co-op and we have those options here. Unfortunately soft parenting and the social environment we live in has created kids that when they don’t see immediate results they give up. Crazy thing is Clarkson-Leigh has coaches that are respected across the whole state in most of their sports.

I guess the one nice thing about being in Nebraska weather your a family in Leigh or clarkson if you don’t agree with this situation option enrollment out of your district is an option.

Really agree with the final statement.. If I was a teenager from Leigh or a parent of one, with AN OUNCE of competitiveness in me.. I hear my board and AD saying we'd rather lose alone than co-op? Papers are filed and I'm headed to Clarkson... Wouldn't think twice.

 

[SkolSker]

From what I've heard this morning, H-D is interested in taking on Clarkson (but I'm sure it's fluid). The head football coaches at both schools are very close friends as well.

Would be nice if there was a grace period, given the situation.

Sign me up for more 11 man football in the area. HDC Jags vs Battle Creek, Albion, Norfolk Catholic, Plainview- Osmond etc would be cool

 

[Goldengeko_69]

Howells and Clarkson were very close to merging back in the day but Clarkson wouldn't agree on terms and backed out. Maybe Howells can swap Clarkson for dodge as a lot of the dodge area kids go to North Bend now anyways

 

[GoSkers3]

The video of the board member saying girls walked away from sports because they weren't good enough to play makes me want to throw up. Here's a thought...stay on the team, be a GREAT teammate, and learn that life isn't fair. Stop being soft af and walking away when things don't go your way.

Absolutely, agree! So, this decision isn't what is best for all the students - it's what is best for the butt hurt families who choose to make excuses rather than do something about the situation. Instead of teaching our kids a GREAT life lesson - what's sports is all about - let's let the kids off of the hook by making excuses. Like JAG stated earlier, I hope those families that wanted to keep this coop going - transfer to Clarkson and stick it to Leigh. What an unfortunate set of events that took place and another sad display from a few sets of parents.

 

[SpaghettiSlayer]

I thought the same thing, do they not offer JV and C team options if you want to be a part of the team? The school my kids go to is smaller than this co-op and we have those options here. Unfortunately soft parenting and the social environment we live in has created kids that when they don’t see immediate results they give up.

I completely agree with this take. It hurts me to see kids walking away from sports and activities in any case. At the same time, they're still kids, having their own real frustrations and decisions. What needs to change is how we can encourage them to stay involved, how we can parent them to learn about the realities of life when it seems unfair, and how we can give them opportunities to play.

I think we're all on board that kids need to get involved to have fun, connect with others, and learn from these experiences. A 15-year old may not see the big picture and think that the value of a sport is only tied to their own immediate results. I've been that "soft-kid" before many years ago, and it's the biggest regret of my life that I hadn't had that "growing up" moment until after graduation. This is simply what happens when the support isn't there for them.

I don't have any connections to this situation or to the communities involved, but hearing about these things just makes me want to speak out for this.

 

[RedBlood]

Going to be an interesting district final tomorrow for the Clarkson-Leigh volleyball team.

Would like to sit in the crowd to see what the vibe is like.

 

[Alum-Ni]

Athletes react to dissolving co-op between Clarkson, Leigh

LEIGH — Tears, heartache and an eerie quiet filled the gym at Leigh High School on Thursday night as the school board voted unanimously to end the athletic co-op with

norfolkdailynews.com

Athletes react to dissolving co-op between Clarkson, Leigh
by Pat Caveye, Norfolk Daily News

LEIGH - Tears, heartache, and an eerie quiet filled the gym at Leigh High School on Thursday night as the school board voted unanimously to end the athletic co-op with Clarkson Public Schools beginning next athletic season.

The decision by the school board ends a 12-year partnership between the two communities, located just 6 miles apart along Highway 91.

Consolidations are nothing new across Nebraska, as more schools are turning to joining forces activity-wise due to lack of participation across all sports.

However, Leigh principal and athletic/activities director Andrew Faltys said that decline in participation is one of the reasons why the school is looking at dissolving the co-op.

"This is my fourth year here, and it seems like over the last seven or eight years, the participation between the co-op has steadily gone down," Faltys said. "With COVID and more kids having phones, they don't necessarily have to be a part of something to hang out with friends. In some instances, it's a lot easier to go home and work and easier not to play."

Faltys said it's a common trend around the state.

"You see in bigger schools like C1 and C2, kids are just stepping away," Faltys said. "Maybe it's because of their experience in the program, the way they're being treated or they're not getting any playing time.

"Since the 2017-18 school year, it's been kind of eye-opening on how many people have quit. During that span, we had 88 different players in football with 20% of them not finishing. In boys basketball over that same time period, 21% of the students quit. Volleyball saw 36% of the kids not finish over that same time span."

Those decreases, according to superintendent Cole Fischer, have led to the ongoing discussions about possibly ending the co-op.

"There's pretty good evidence out there that small towns are dying," Fischer said. "I would say our two communities are the opposite of that. At some point then, as a co-op, the question becomes then can the two schools sustain themselves in athletics on their own? Are we built to be a C1/C2 co-op consistently, and that can spiral into when is the right time. Unfortunately, things have spiraled to this point, and we're at a crossroads where we need to decide....what's best for our kids."

However, kids and attendees had different ideas.

Out of nearly 20 people who came up to speak, nearly all of them seemed to want the co-op to continue.

Leigh junior Wyatt Langhorst, who attended Clarkson, said everything they've built over the past 14 years or so as a community has been great.

"Splitting our co-op doesn't just split our co-op, but it splits our communities and our teams," he said. "As a guy who plays football, while we might be able to scrounge together enough guys, having to play freshmen in a contact sport is not only not going to be competitive, but it's going to be dangerous. Same thing with wrestling. Even with both schools, there's only about four or five guys in there. If you split, I'm going to be practicing with my coaches."

Following nearly an hour and 15 minutes of executive session, the board reconvened and voted 9-0 to end the 12-year co-op between the two communities, leaving many of the attendees in tears.

One woman was heard telling the school board members as they quickly exited the gym "look what you did to these kids. There are people literally in tears from your decision."

The tears continued outside the school as well, where a bunch of the current Patriot volleyball players were in heartache after hearing the news that they would not be playing with each other after this season.

The decision also comes less than 48 hours before the team's district final contest with Lincoln Lutheran and a chance to go to state.

"The people who are actually here in the parking lot are the ones that actually cared and the ones that drove away really didn't care about anything," one of the players said. "We've grown so much over the years since we were little, and to see this all go to waste is very disappointing."

"I think we've built such a strong culture together, and now it's just broke apart. We feel betrayed," another girl stated.

"I don't know how I'm going to look through the net on the volleyball court playing against the girls we've been playing with since we were about 9 years old," a third girl added.

While the co-op may be over, recent Patriot graduate Jordan Noonan said the best thing the coaches need to do now is keep preaching they're still a team and a community.

"This is tough, especially for those sports that are still going on or yet to come," Noonan said. "I think it's going to be a tough adjustment, and while there's opportunities gained by this co-op splitting, I would have never ever wished for it to split."

That message was addressed almost instantly toward a crowd of about 40 people standing just outside the school on a dark, crisp night in late October from Clarkson athletic director Lee Schneider.

"We were there to help those that needed to be helped," he said. "That's what makes Clarkson special and great and why we love being there so much. We're going to rally, we're together, we're going to do the high road and watch out."

 

[RedBlood]

Splitting our co-op doesn't just split our co-op, but it splits our communities and our teams," he said. "As a guy who plays football, while we might be able to scrounge together enough guys, having to play freshmen in a contact sport is not only not going to be competitive, but it's going to be dangerous. Same thing with wrestling. Even with both schools, there's only about four or five guys in there. If you split, I'm going to be practicing with my coaches."

Doesn't this prove that you NEED a co-op?? How in the world is splitting going to help fix this??? This makes zero sense.