Board talks pros and cons of sixth grade hoops

Students in the sixth grade at Columbia Falls Junior High can join a host of clubs and activities when they start school there. But one thing they can’t do is play basketball for the school, because it doesn’t offer to it sixth graders.

Basketball is only offered to seventh and eighth grade students for both boys and girls and the program is brimming full — a typical season sees about 30 players per gender in each grade.

That amounts to several teams and a gym that is pretty much going non-stop from when school lets out to 9 p.m., noted assistant principal John Cooper.

To add a sixth-grade team would be an added expense and while it’s not impossible, it would be tough to do, Cooper told the school board last week.

For one, there’s an expense involved — the typical seventh and eighth grade program costs more than $11,000 per gender, including coaches, officials and other expenses. In addition, there’s a lack of coaches available. Cooper said he had to recruit people just to fill the open coaching jobs the school has for its current basketball and football program.

In addition, there’s travel time, practice and other stresses that go with playing, Cooper noted. Sixth grade is already a tough grade, Cooper said.

Another aspect is sixth graders can play hoops if they want to, just not at the school. The Columbia Falls city recreational league offers basketball for fifth and sixth graders in a combined team.

But board member Keri Hill said the junior high is probably losing some students because it doesn’t offer sixth-grade basketball. Hill notes they go to Deer Park, because the rural school south of town offers a travel team for sixth graders.

But the rest of the board seemed OK with that, after a discussion that lasted about a half hour. School officials noted that there are no cuts in the junior high program and that seems to help, rather than hurt it. The school doesn’t even have an “A” and “B” team to separate the better players. If a parent wants a student on a travel team of “select” players, they can certainly find one, though board members noted that by high school, a lot of players decide they’d rather do something else. In short, kids learn whether they were cut out for the sport on their own.

“My two cents with fifth and sixth grade basketball is leave it alone,” board member Mike Nicosia said. “Let them have fun.”