Basketball Interest Declines
By Riddle, Christy
November 14, 2011
For the first year in the H.S. boy's basketball program, we will not have a J.V. team. Interest in basketball has been on a steady decline for the past few years with only 11 players in 2010 and 12 in 2009. This year, the first week of practice was promising as there were 13 players who showed. However, after just one week, they are now down to 9 players. Therefore, there aren't enough players for a J.V. team.
Some ask why are our teams getting smaller and smaller. That is a question that many schools in the area are facing as Pleasant Hill isn't the lone ranger. Through an informal survey, kids at Pleasant Hill give many excuses. Some say they have jobs, some have other interests such as hunting, and others say they don't like certain coaches. Yet, other reasons are they have conflict with other sports or don't have time to commit to training or practicing, or less time for school work when in a sport season.
Whatever, the reason or reasons are it is drastically affecting sports at Pleasant Hill. This year we have no J.V. boy's basketball, no H.S. girl's basketball, and no 7th grade girl's basketball. As teams have less and less players, we are forced to look at a co-op situation and that is what occurred this year in H.S. girl's basketball. Hopefully, the trend changes soon and sports can be preserved as the Pleasant Hill Wolves.
