[private]Mike Apostol, President of the WASAREN League, came to the Berlin School Board meeting on Thursday January 26. He said they have 9 schools in the league, and they would like to have ten. [private]Ten schools would make it easier to schedule, and he also said they would like to have two divisions in the league and ten schools would make that feasible. The idea would be to have two games per season with the schools in your division, and only one game per season with the other five schools. This would allow the majority of league games to be played close to home. Berlin, for example, would be in a division with Tamarack, Hoosick Falls, Hoosic Valley, and one other, perhaps Cambridge.
Apostol said so far Berlin is the only school they have invited to join the league. “We think Berlin would be a good fit,” he said. “We are not at this point looking at any other schools.”
Berlin Athletic Director Art Schmich said over the years Berlin has had a good experience with its current league, the Central Hudson Valley league, but he is concerned about enrollment numbers dropping at some of the member schools. He said some of the schools have been dropping sports because they don’t have enough kids to field a team. He said very few of the schools have JV or modified teams, and some are dropping sports altogether. Schmich said he is concerned about the possibility that in three years the CHVL may no longer be viable because so many of the schools will not be able to field teams in some sports. He said when Apostol contacted him to invite Berlin into the Wasaren league, it seemed like “a golden opportunity for us to get out ahead” of these problems.
Schmich said the level of competition in the Wasaren league is higher, and “it’s going to be tough for us for a few years.”
Apostol also addressed this issue. He said his experience has been that when a team joins a league that is at a higher level than they are used to, they struggle for a year or two, but over time they tend to catch up to the other teams in their league. He said, “the way to succeed in high school sports is to play a lot of games and gain experience. In the Wasaren league you will get plenty of games.” He said there are usually 13 to 14 league games per season, and most teams schedule about 6 non-league games.
Several of Berlin’s coaches were present and they also commented on the proposed change. JV Basketball Coach Josh Weaver said he is concerned that if Berlin teams are losing all their games, the kids might have low morale or be so frustrated that they would quit playing. But Track and Cross-Country Coach Jennifer Burhans said she didn’t think kids are going to walk away because the competition is too tough. She thinks they will rise to meet the challenge.
Burhans also said many Wasaren league schools have “top-level facilities” which would be a nice thing for the student athletes, and also that for those Berlin athletes who want to go on to play sports in college, the Wasaren League will offer better preparation for that.
High School principal Cathie Allain spoke in favor of the Wasaren League because she thought more of the games will be local, so the kids will spend less time on the bus and more parents will be able to attend and cheer their kids on.
School Board member Jim Willis said he came to the meeting thinking he wanted to stay with the CHVL, but “You’ve convinced me, and I will make the motion to switch our teams to the Wasaren League.” The Board then voted unanimously to switch to the Wasaren League.[/private]