By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Since the 2017-18 school year, USD 431 has not allowed students to dual-sport, or play more than one sport in a season, while attending Hoisington High School. Monday night, junior Brody Rossman approached the board of education about changing the policy.
"Since we've grown up, we've played different sports and other activities," he said. "In middle school, they have it split up into shorter seasons so you can do wrestling and basketball. You can do four sports instead of three in high school. When you get to high school, your opportunity to do sports that you have previously done has been cut."
HHS Principal Joel Mason read from the policy, which states that students will be asked to pick one sport per season, and concentrate their full effort on one sport. This does not include students who want to participate in activities, which could be but are not limited to cheer, forensics, speech, and debate. Athletes participating in a sport during those seasons could also participate in an activity.
Rossman first went through school administration before approaching the board. An all-state cross country runner in the fall and all-state tennis player in the spring, Rossman said being able to compete on the tennis and track teams this spring would further his chances of earning a college scholarship in one of the sports. He knows many coaches who recruit cross country athletes also pay attention to times on the track.
"I haven't previously decided whether I would like to go to college for cross country and track or tennis," he said. "This would allow our students who are good athletes in both to have multiple options to succeed and get financial aid in college."
Rossman prepared for the meeting by talking to athletic directors around the Central Kansas League. Hesston recently changed its policy to again allow dual-sporting. Larned, Haven, and Halstead all allow the practice.
"In the end, sports are about the success of the athlete - the success and growth of the individual athlete in a team manner," Rossman said. "I think there's definitely a way we can have the team aspect, but we can allow individual athletes to succeed and flourish as a person."
As part of a proposed policy change, Rossman suggested the policy require an athlete to choose a primary and secondary sport if dual-sporting. That decision would dictate which events an athlete would attend should scheduling conflicts arise. Board member Julia Debes thanks Rossman for his presentation but was not ready to make a decision Monday.
"Brody, I want to say absolutely thank you for all the research you have done and the thought you put into it," she said. "My input on this is going to be taking it away from your individual situation and looking at a broader sphere, and that is making a policy change in the middle of the school year isn't fair to our fall athletes. If I would be in favor of this policy change, I would want to make it in between school years in order to be fair to all seasons."
Board member Neil Ochs went even further, saying maybe the board should consider a trial change in policy for the spring, but only for more individual sports like golf, tennis, and track.
"We're taking some time to digest this," he said. "This is the first time we've had this conversation. I wouldn't be opposed to continuing the conversation. We're talking spring, so we do have a little time if we're thinking about implementing it. I'm almost curious if we could consider a trial period for this spring and see what that looks like, but I think getting direct coach input is a good thing."
Board member Kevin Patterson also seemed in favor of a change if coaches agreed to allow dual-sport athletes on their team. Rossman agreed that spring is an ideal time for a trial run on the boys' side, with tennis, golf, and track going at the same time. Female athletes in the future could have the same opportunity with golf and tennis taking place in the fall.