The Maplewood Richmond Heights Board of Education has decided to put the high school’s football program “on hiatus” for the 2015-16 school year, according to an announcement on its website on Wednesday. MRH had to cancel one game last year due to injuries and a low number of healthy players.
The announcement puts into question when or if a homecoming will take place, since it’s traditionally at a football game. See also: No football – anywhere – for MRH next year; co-op after that?
The MRH announcement:
The MRH Board of Education has approved the High School’s plan to place the football team on hiatus for the 2015-2016 school year. The program, which has suffered from low student interest for the past two years, currently has less than a dozen players for the fall 2015 season. The Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) recommends a minimum of 23 players on the roster.
The administration and Board have been closely watching the football program, along with the other sports teams, and have received updates at their monthly meeting. A decision on the program was needed to ensure opposing teams on the fall 2015 schedule could secure alternate opponents.
“This was a very difficult and emotional decision for the District to make, but we know it’s in the best interest of our students,” commented MRH Board of Education President Nelson Mitten. “Even if we were able to reach 23 players, our profound concern for student safety would still our primary focus. Just last season the team endured multiple injuries from much larger opponents and we had to forfeit one game because we did not have enough healthy players.”
The Board also noted that other MRH teams, such as soccer and cross county, were seeing record numbers for team members, which were taking potential players away from football. Additionally, it was deemed that a new head coach would be needed to recruit players from the student body, rebuild and instill pride in the program, and engage the community.
“We want to assure our students, parents, community, and the alumni of MRH, that the entire Board and district administration are committed to all of our sports programs. We will continue to closely monitor student interest in football and look at our other options to potentially rebuild this program in a quality manner,” added Mitten. “High school football, like the many other sports and clubs MRH provides, is an integral component for our students to work as a team, exhibit hard work, and instill Blue Devil pride in our community.”
The District is currently reviewing options to move the annual homecoming activities (currently scheduled for Friday, October 16, 2015) to another sport or create a new event.
Will anything be happening to the cheerleading program? Since there will be no football team to cheer for, who will their efforts be mainly supporting now? Does anyone know?
Jess – from MRH: Yes, we will still have a cheer leading program/squad next year. They cheer for multiple sports/events throughout the year.
Not sure how a “financial issue” is the cause when only 12 kids sign up. Seems like a clear case of lack-of-interest. I’d agree that, as an earlier commenter put it, we’re ahead of the curve in moving away from football and investing other modes of athletic and artistic performance. Viva MRH.
A year ago I sat next to a person who works in the athletic department at MICDS and he expressed concern about his football team being able to sustain its’ numbers because parents were concerned about the injuries related to playing the sport. I haven’t heard the same concerns being expressed within the MRH community which leads me to believe that the reason football in being cut has to do with money. My guess is that to field a high school football team for the season probably costs the district $40,000-$50,000. With all the cuts being made within the district I cannot help but think that this move is cost related and nothing else.
Actually many people on the board were concerned about injuries, as were other people connected to the school. If a team needs at least 25 to adequately field a team, then 12 young people are not going to be able to compete no matter what their individual strengths. An assistant coach of a large high school (who came from a small high school in Illinois) told me in early spring that it is very hard for a small school to field both a football and soccer team. Undoubtedly several factors at least contributed to the current situation: MRH Youth Sports has done an amazing job for the last ten years providing opportunities for kids in the community to play on soccer, basketball and baseball teams; many of those kids have funneled that experience into high school sports better prepared than they would be for football; some students in the recent past have opted to focus on the development of their skills in one sport (typically not football) ; the sport of football itself has certainly been under greater scrutiny because of head injuries; some students have chosen to focus on participation in the highly applauded band and drama programs and maintaining a part-time job. While I truly am saddened that football is not an option for those students who want to play, I agree with some others writing on this forum; maybe MRH is ahead of the curve in making this decision. At any rate, if the school district cannot think of another way to celebrate its alums that includes the current student body, then I will be disappointed.
When you have professional football players resigning because even all that money isn’t worth the risk of repetitive head trauma, it’s no surprise that enrollment at MRH and other schools would be down. I have a younger son in the district, and for what it’s worth, I probably will not allow him to play football in the future.
I think MRH might ahead of the curve here. Soccer and other sports have gained interest and parents are more concerned than ever about injuries. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see other districts follow in the new few years.
I find it funny that you think that soccer is harmless,,,,an independent study done by the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations) indicates that 26% of injuries in football are concussions,,,while 32% of injuries in boys soccer are from concussions,,,,and even 28% of injuries in girls soccer are concussions.
I would check your facts first.
The percent of injuries that are concussions have no indications of the total number of injuries. This is an irrelevant statistic.
It could be a higher percentage of a lower #, resulting in fewer overall concussions.
As a member of this community, this fires me up. Sports are intended to teach individuals how to handle real-world situations. When faced with a real-world situation, the MRH school board had a chance to set the tone for a community, school district and student body. Instead, they fumbled it away. With this disappointing press release, there are many areas that stand out.
You will face adversity in life, but how will you get through it?
According to the MRH school board, the best way to deal with adversity is take your ball and go home. People are going to be bigger and stronger in life but sports teach a person to work harder and compete. Not the MRH school board.
“Just last season the team endured multiple injuries from much larger opponents.”
Oh, no! You mean to say that competition wasn’t always equal? OK, motivate the guys to get in the weight room this off season and get bigger. When you face a team that’s bigger and stronger, how can you outwork them and outsmart them? Imagine our country if George Washington had this mindset.
Take responsibility for your actions.
The school board had plenty of heads-up that the program was going the wrong direction. It has been for three years. Instead of taking responsibility for not making a change sooner, they decide to throw it on other programs.
“The Board also noted that other MRH teams, such as soccer and cross county, were seeing record numbers for team members, which were taking potential players away from football.”
First off, what research said these are the same kids that would have played football? How many former football players are on either of these teams? If the football numbers were trending downward, why start a cross country team two years ago? Instead of applauding these programs for competing hard and being successful, they get scapegoated. Maybe the board should be looking at the success of these two programs and seeing what is different between them and the football program?
Sometimes you get knocked down. How do you get back up?
“Additionally, it was deemed that a new head coach would be needed to recruit players from the student body, rebuild and instill pride in the program, and engage the community.”
Great statement. I couldn’t agree more.
Now, what has taken so long? The press release mentions that numbers have been going down. Why is something just now being done? A new coach would need to do all these things. Why hasn’t someone been hired? Ties could have been cut with the previous coach in November. Even if a new coach was hired January 1st, that would have been five months while school was in session to drive up interest plus the summer months. Instead, the board sat on its hands and didn’t do a thing. So what’s next? Where does the money from the athletic budget that would have gone to football go? What is the game plan to get a new coach in here and start getting the community and student body fired up about football? It’s so disappointing to see a once proud program in shambles. When I first moved to Maplewood five years ago, all I knew was that the football team was good. It’s disappointing to know that the lights on Friday nights won’t shine along Manchester anymore as they will in every other city across America.
You mad, bro? Perhaps you missed the part about how only 12 kids are signed up for the fall season? All programs at schools have up and down cycles. Perhaps we should be asking why only 12 kids signed up? Problems with the coach? Sounds like it. Maybe the kids realized that football is a brutal sport and the injuries aren’t worth the risk? You can overcome adversity without getting a concussion or a broken neck. The American fascination with and romanticization of Friday Night Lights comes at the expense of intense physical abuse that lingers with the players for the rest of their lives. I’d much rather have an orchestra, a big art program, or the best baseball team in the land than watch children maul each other on the gridiron.
Obviously bro you never played football or even understand the game. My son has played football for five years and in the first season he went from an average student who had no self confidence to a confident young man with greatly improved grades. While the arts and music are very important the sad truth is collages and universities give out more scholarships to athletes even division two and three schools will give academic scholarships to athletes.
The loss of the football program will ruin the future of many young men.
And before you trash a program you need to get your facts straight, more children are injured walking down stairs than playing sports what’s next eliminate stairs?
Correct, I never played football, but I’ve been to hundreds of games. And I was not trashing the MRH program specifically. I was trashing high school football in general. The main point is that in the short run, MRH has no choice but to cancel the season. Only 12 kids signed up. I think it’s also lamentable that MRH does not have a marching band, because marching band is a uniquely American and character-building experience, but in it’s place they have a stellar jazz band that has been churning out excellent musicians for years, just as the track program and other athletics have made significant achievements. When a school is as small as MRH, there simply aren’t enough kids in the building to support every possible program that the parents want. Extracurricular programs will wax and wane. That’s life in public education. Football is not some untouchable gold standard or entitlement that simply must be present everywhere at all times. And I think you are perhaps overstating your case that lives will be ruined without football. Yes, it will suck for the kids who love to play football. I’m sorry for that, but as the original commenter Jeff noted, when you get knocked down, you get back up. Convince all your buddies to sign up or pick another sport. Walk it off, boys. Walk it off.
I do, however, think the kids should be able to sign up for football somewhere else. That’s really an unfortunate rule. There’s probably a legal or insurance reason for it.
Five years? Hmmmm. The 5-year plan is generally for academically disadvantaged students. Thanks for having your son live up to the reputation of the “dumb jock.”
It is sad that you think that the MRH students are only rising to challenges and opponents larger than them on the football field. I guarantee the soccer and baseball teams have competed against much larger schools and proved that they had the fortitude and the skill to compete. These students wanted to be on that playing field, and they now have enough team members to field some junior varsity games (unheard of for quite awhile) where students can gain experience and skill in order to compete at a more demanding level. Moving beyond that however, is the implication that students will not be able to rise to challenges OFF the field without the opportunity to play football. Yes, I am truly saddened that 12 students are not going to play; I do not know all of them, but I know that some have both athletic, academic and leadership opportunities in other aspects of high school life that will challenge them.
Do I smell dirty politics? Hopefully not, but more often than not…
I have been a part of the football program the last four years, and the board has just been looking for the chance to shut it down. The board and team have been clashing, and because of that the team has received 0 support from the board and has been doing it pretty much on our own, with the exception of one or maybe two people in central office.
Do they still allow kids that want to play football to play with a different program in a neighboring city such as Brentwood or Clayton, since Maplewood won’t filed a team? If so, I hope they let these kids know they have that option.
They do not. The kids, the seniors who have been a part of the program for three years, are just screwed over.
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