Lamm: Fewer students are going out for sports

By Karyn Spory, Mt. Pleasant News

Sixty-percent of Mt. Pleasant students are involved in at least one co-curricular activity, but the number of students taking to the field is decreasing, according to Activities Director Scot Lamm.

?We have 368 kids that are involved in at least one activity here at the high school,? Lamm told the Mt. Pleasant School Board Monday evening during a regularly scheduled meeting. ?That?s 60 percent.?

Those activities ranged anywhere from athletics to marching band to speech.

However, the number of students trying out for an athletic team is steadily decreasing.

?Our number of students who are involved in sports programs is down from where it has been in the past,? he said.

Each time a student participates in an activity Lamm has to count that with the state. So one student who participates in football, band and speech, would be counted three times. According to Lamm, there are currently 878 ?kids? involved in activities in grades seventh through 12.

?Last year, that was 967. Prior to that, for eight years, we were above 1,000,? he explained.

Lamm said he looked through the data to try to understand why there was less athletic involvement and he didn?t find a clear-cut answer. ?I honestly have no idea. It?s everywhere.?

Lamm said there were seven sports programs that currently have the lowest number of student participation they?ve ever had. ?But we have two programs that have the highest numbers they?ve ever had.?

A point of interest, Lamm said, was this year?s seventh-grade and junior classes, which have the two smallest class sizes in the district.

?But our seventh-grade numbers are really down, especially on the boys? side,? he added. ?45 kids are not out for a seventh-grade sport this year.?

?We won the state championship in basketball in 2009, that next year we had 72 seventh-graders turn out for basketball. Anybody want to guess how many played as seniors?? asked Lamm. ?Zero. Not one.?

When asked, Lamm said the students said they didn?t think they?d get a chance to play.

?I think that?s why we don?t get as many kids to play in seventh-grade. We?re separating kids early and kids feel like (they won?t get playing time) so they don?t continue to do that.?

He continued. ?A lot of kids want to play a significant role or they want to specialize in something where they feel like they (make a difference). I think, personally, of kids going out for things and staying out for them just to be a part of it is passing by.?

Lamm said in today?s age, being a fan is more fun and interactive. ?It provides (students) another avenue of something to do on Friday nights, they?re part of it. They feel part of it.?

Board member Dave Christensen wondered if kids were starting to play competitively too soon.

?I think so,? replied Lamm.

Lamm said constant league play, especially weekend trips, exhaust not only the students, but the families as well.

Lamm added that student life takes a lot of time. ?Take into account the amount of time they?re spending in the classroom, outside of the classroom and with those activities. Obviously they?re putting in 50-60 hours easily a week,? added Lamm.