Frederic 8 Man Football Proposal. Initially Presented to Board October 18th, 2017

Transcription

1 Frederic 8 Man Football Proposal Initially Presented to Board October 18th, 2017

2 New Information for Consideration Tonight Participation rates in Frederic Compared to other local schools. A preview of how our numbers really look in 11 man and 8 man over the next few years. Survey Information from 5 other schools who have made the switch to 8 man.

3 Understanding 8 Man State Wide WIAA sport offerings with the following provisions: * Enrollment average - a 3-year enrollment average of 200 or less. - If schools co-op, the 3-year combined enrollment average must be 200 or less. - Schools playing 8-player football with an enrollment over 200 will not be allowed to participate in WIAA Jamboree. - Waivers to enrollment threshold not available. * A two-year commitment to play 8-player football is required. * Fall of 2018 will also be the first year of an 8 man state tournament, no jamboree. * Fall there were 26 Jamboree Eligible teams, divided North (13) and South (13). At the start there were 7 more hoping to enter for next year and as the season has progressed, another 7 have indicated interest including us. * Wisconsin has 424 School Districts; 2017 started with man programs, 26-8 man programs, 38 schools without football.

4 Wisconsin 8 Man Teams and their Projected WIAA Enrollment

5 Understanding the Challenge with Continuing 11 Man Our Enrollment Declining numbers have made it hard to field a Varsity and a JV 11 man team. Our Participation : Started with 27 Kids (17 players total last 2 varsity games) Injuries: More than most years, and 3 Season Ending Three JV games in, we had to cancel the remaining 11 man JV schedule, replaced two of the games with 8 man. 7-8: 17 Kids this season. Football Conferences Football Only Conferences or District Plans still won t benefit us as we will continue to be smaller than all our competition and increase travel. --- Luck is not interested in a Football Co-op.

6 Benefits and Drawbacks... Benefits - - Being Competitive - especially non conference, smaller/comparable enrollments. - Playing Varsity and JV games and building a program - Safety - we won t have to play Freshmen and Sophomores who are not ready against Juniors and Seniors. Some coaches say it is a safer game risking 3 less players that are often underclassmen. - Local Rivalries Restored and Less Travel - Luck, Siren, Shell Lake, Clayton, Northwood/Solon - State Tournament Eligible in 1st year. - Only a 2 year commitment. We can switch back to 11, but may have to wait a year. Drawbacks - - Not playing classic 11 man football - Narrowing the playing field 20 feet on each side. - 3 less players participating at a time.

7 Frederic High School Projected Enrollment Year Seniors Juniors Sophomores Freshmen Total Numbers based on this year s class sizes.

8 Enrollment by Gender Female Male Total Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade

9 Football Participants Per Class Year Seniors Juniors Sophomores Freshmen Total (20) 6 (10) 8 (16) 3 (14) (10) 8 (16) 3 (14) 11 (17) (16) 3 (14) 11 (17) 6 (13) (14) 11 (17) 6 (13) 13 (26) 33 - # of participants (number of boys in the grade)

10 Area Schools Football Participation Rates Fall 2017 School Senior Boys Junior Boys Sophomore Boys Freshmen Boys Overall % Saint Croix Falls 9/43 21% 6/35 17% 11/47 23% 14/41 34% 40/166 24% Grantsburg 6/33 18% 10/39 26% 10/41 24% 13/33 27% 39/146 27% Luck 8/22 36% 3/18 17% 6/15 40% 4/14 29% 21/69 30% Webster 7/24 24% 7/30 23% 13/29 44% 11/28 39% 39/111 34% Siren 8/19 42% 4/17 24% 8/27 30% 8/15 60% 29/78 37% Frederic 10/20 50% 6/10 60% 8/16 50% 3/14 21% 27/60 45%

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13 Travel and Enrollment in 11 Man (2 Year Time Frame) Our Schedule Distance (552 Miles - $2291) Enrollment (Average 197.4) Glenwood City 55 Miles 209 Grantsburg 17 Miles 259 Elmwood/Plum City 75 Miles 193 Saint Croix Falls 23 Miles 296 Clear Lake 37 Miles 179 Pepin/Alma 99 Miles 137 Lake Holcombe/Cornell 92 Miles 204 Turtle Lake 33 Miles 118 Flambeau 121 Miles 182

14 Travel and Enrollment in 8 Man (2 Year Time Frame) Possible Schedule Distance (461 Miles - $1913) Enrollment (Average 122.7) Clayton 36 Miles 130 Luck 6 Miles 140 Northwood/Solon Springs 56 Miles 178 Siren 11 Miles 130 Prairie Farm 51 Miles 101 Mellen 117 Miles 85 Winter 85 Miles 71 New Auburn 66 Miles 83 Shell Lake 33 Miles 187 ***May it also be noted that Birchwood might take Mellen s place (55 miles)

15 Other NW WI Schools Contemplating 8 Man Shell Lake kids, BOE approved 8 Man. They were on the fence only due to fear that their three year enrollment average will bump them over 200 make and make them ineligible when their best class of kids are all seniors. Birchwood - 86 kids, want to bring a football program back. Washburn/Bayfield/South Shore kids, just struggling to get kids to participate in the co-op program in general (travel, culture, etc.) McDonell Central kids, no football this year, co-op with Regis for JV only. Phillips kids, low participation leaves them no choice. (227 projected WIAA Enrollment for this year)

16 Wisconsin Schools under 120 Still Playing 11 Man Frederic kids (112), finished 3-6 this season, considering 8 man, qualified for playoffs Pepin/Alma kids, finished 0-9 this season - considering 8 man for 2019 Cambria/Friesland - 116, finished 3-6 this season, qualified for playoffs, not considering 8 man Shullsburg kids, finished 1-8 this season, SW - considering 8 man for 2019 Gilman kids, finished 2-5 this season, not considering 8 man Black Hawk kids, finished 9-0 this season, SW - qualified for playoffs, no response Florence kids, finished 0-8 this season, E, will be 8 man in 2018 Belmont kids, finished 2-7 this season, SW - considering 8 man for 2019 Port Edwards - 99 kids, incomplete season, finished 0-6, E, considering 8 man for 2018 Highland - 81 kids, finished 4-5 this season - SW, considering 8 man for 2019 *These enrollments are the WIAA Projections used for Playoff Placement *Only 19 schools under 150 kids still competed in 11 man football this year = 4.9% *Southwest WI only has 2-8 man teams, so many are holding out for more teams, less travel.

17 Fall Day One - 27 Kids Year Seniors Juniors Sophomores Freshmen Total (20) 6 (10) 8 (16) 3 (14) Varsity Starting Spots and 11 Junior Varsity Spots - Clearly a need for 22 kids to play 11 man football. The Remaining 5-2 varsity ineligible, one of which walked away from the game, down to 26 As The Season Transpired - multiple injuries, 3 season ending. Now unable to play JV games, without opportunity players walk away. Finished the last two varsity games with 17 kids. Last JV game was played with 11

18 Next Fall Projected 28 kids Year Seniors Juniors Sophomores Freshmen Total (10) 8 (16) 3 (14) 11 (17) Varsity Starting Spots - Only 6 Seniors, 8 Juniors, counting on 2 players that walked away this year to return, and 2 that sustained season ending injuries to return next year. So 14 or 10? 11 Junior Varsity Spots - 3 Sophomores, 11 Freshmen, counting on 1 player that walked away to return. That is 14 per team? Is that really a risk we want to take? 28 is counting on 3 that walked away and 2 injured to come back. What if we only have 23? Clearly we can t play 11 man with 23 if we want to have a JV.

19 Fall In 8 man Year Seniors Juniors Sophomores Freshmen Total (10) 8 (16) 3 (14) 11 (17) 28 8 Varsity Starting Spots - 6 Seniors, 8 Juniors, counting on 2 players that walked away and 2 injured this year to return. 14 or 10? 8 Junior Varsity Spots - 3 Sophomores, 11 Freshmen. Counting on one freshmen that walked away to return. That is 14 per team? That to me sounds like balanced opportunities, protecting the sophomores and freshmen.

20 Fall 2020 if we stayed 11 man waiting for 33. Year Seniors Juniors Sophomores Freshmen Total (14) 11 (17) 6 (13) 13 (26) Varsity Starting Spots - Only 3 Seniors, 11 Juniors 11 Junior Varsity Spots - 6 Sophomores, 13 Freshmen 33 Possible Kids - The ride out the storm argument doesn t hold up in my mind. All sports naturally see participation decrease in high school as some kids find out it just isn t for them any longer. 6th Grade flag football numbers usually decrease by 7th grade. To me 33 isn t a number three years from now we hold out for. For now we need to consider 8 and please remember, we can go back to 11 man in two years if numbers rise.

21 Survey Results - Bruce, Gillette, VC Oshkosh, Wausaukee, New Auburn 1) What have been your biggest struggles going from 11man to 8man? 2) Was your community supportive of the decision to move to 8man? If not/ are they now? 3) Did you ask the opinion of the players prior to making this decision? If Yes, were majority for or against? 4) What was your decision based on? # s, Conference record, safety etc. 5) Did you lose any HS enrollment because of moving to 8man? 6) Do you feel kids get more or less play time since moving to 8man? 7) Does your team suffer more or less (or no change) in injuries since switching to 8man? 8) Did you have boys quit playing football, because you went to 8man? 9) In your opinion, can kids be more versatile in 8 man? (play positions they maybe couldn t have in 11 man)? 10) Do your kids enjoy playing 8 man? Are they happy with the decision?

22 1) What have been your biggest struggles going from 11man to 8man? New Auburn - The biggest struggle we found was getting the community on board including myself. I was against the change mostly because of tradition. It took us playing a couple exhibition games to sway myself and some others. As we played more 8-man games the crowd could see it was an exciting game to watch. The players were hesitant about the switch too. But, they quickly found out that 8-man was even more intensive and demanding. My personal struggle as a coach was tweaking my thinking. It is a unique game and it takes rethinking the strategy of the 11-man thinking. While the field is smaller, it seems to hold more openings and weaknesses because of the removal of the 3 players off your team.

23 2) Was your community supportive of the decision to move to 8man? If not/ are they now? Bruce - Our community was not real concerned about the switch. We were not any powerhouse in 11-man so I think they saw the switch as a change. I however, did not want to switch as the head coach, but as we got looking at numbers and the prospect of having JV or not, etc. I/We, (coaching staff) looked at it as probably the right route to go. The community backs it and we are having more success because of fewer players on the field, we can hold younger players from not playing varsity until they are ready whereas before you sometimes had to play athletes before they were ready just because they were the next best athlete, etc. New Auburn - Our community was resistant to the move. But, myself and others quickly found out that 8-man is an exciting game. I feel that we have 100% of the community s backing. It s almost like we ve always played 8-man.

24 3) Did you ask the opinion of the players prior to making this decision? If Yes, were majority for or against? Wausaukee - Yes we did, and we had overwhelming support. The kids didn't care what type of football they were playing, just as long as they got to play the game. Bruce - Yes we talked with the players. We actually played a 9-man game a year or two prior to them going 8-man and then we played an exhibition 8-man game after our final 11-man season and they kids liked it. The kids enjoyed the fact that you can do some fun innovative things with the 8-man game. New Auburn - The players didn t want to change. Change is never easy for most of us. But again after playing some 8-man games, we found that the game was probably more exciting than 11-man.

25 4) What was your decision based on? # s, Conference record, safety etc. Bruce - Our decision was based on all these, numbers of upcoming athletes, having to play freshman vs way more developed seniors, the fact that we were not competitive at the time also helped in the decision. We have also as of this last season went to flag football at our middle school and our numbers jumped from about 14 players to over 30 athletes out for football at the MS level. We did this based on talking with other large football powerhouse schools that have moved to this route at the MS level. We do play 1 or 2 tackle games at the end of the flag season for 8th grade. Gillette - Combination of Numbers and safety. A major goal was to maintain a quality JV program, and needing fewer players for varsity meant we could play a full JV season without too many JV players essentially playing 2 full games a week. The other three all mentioned numbers, one safety. Not one mentioned record or success.

26 5) Did you lose any HS enrollment because of moving to 8man? All five answered no. New Auburn - I know of no one that left the district or open enrolled because we moved to 8-man. But, I do know a couple of examples of families that liked the idea of 8-man and entered their kids from neighboring districts.

27 6) Do you feel kids get more or less play time since moving to 8man? Bruce - I believe kids get more playing time as we have full JV schedule, some kids still because of our numbers being at around 20 students get to play different positions if they play both on Friday and Monday nights. Even though there are 3 less players I believe kids get more playing time now. Wausaukee - Kids were able to have more playing time. Gillette - More, because we can maintain a JV season. This year we played 6 JV games, as opposed to 2 JV games before cancelling our JV season.

28 7) Does your team suffer more or less (or no change) in injuries since switching to 8man? Mixed response, all said same or less. Best feedback New Auburn - I have not noticed much change, except I am able to not place younger/smaller players in situations because of filling an 11-man squad. Most years it allowed us to have both a varsity and JV.

29 8) Did you have boys quit playing football, because you went to 8man? Bruce - No Wausaukee - No VC Oshkosh - N/A - didn t have a team before. Gillette - No, we actually increased our team size because of 8 man football. New Auburn - Not at all!

30 9) In your opinion, can kids be more versatile in 8 man? (play positions they maybe couldn t have in 11 man)? Bruce - I do feel it makes athletes more aware of the game and learn the game a little more because they do get to maybe play more than one spot on the field. Not that this does not happen in the 11-man game as well. Plus you look around the Div. 1 Collegiate level and there are many 8-man football players playing at the elite level. You look at Iowa and they have many 8-man players playing especially their D-line. The Badgers have a couple as well, 1 for sure. So if you are good the colleges will find you, so it is not taking away from getting recruited. New Auburn - We do see a need for players to be in better shape and more versatile in their abilities. I think we have created better athletes. We also prepare the players for multiple positions and looks in the 8-man game. I feel the kids find it more fun too!

31 10) Do your kids enjoy playing 8 man? Are they happy with the decision? Wausaukee - The kids have said that this is the most fun that they had playing football in a long time. The move has been awesome for our district. VC Oshkosh - We were happy with decision. Our kids were competitive playing 8-man. Gillette - Absolutely. They have more fun, a little more success, and enjoy the extra opportunities to play football. New Auburn - Our kids really enjoy the 8-man game. The kids we have now were not involved in the transition. All they know is 8-man and they love it.

32 Wayne North - New Auburn Head Coach I was personally in opposition to going to 8-man. But, I have humbly admitted that I was wrong! All the reasons that I felt so passionate about were wrong and misplaced. I was wrong!!! And now I am a big proponent of the 8-man game and even would like it continue to grow into 2 divisions one for schools larger (> ) and one for smaller schools under that cut off. Don t know if that will happen. But I want to see this exciting game grow!

33 Mark Lierman - Shullsburg Head Coach and AD, 2016 State Runner Up In an to me As a side note, we played for the State Championship last fall in Division 7. We graduated a group of 13 stud seniors (one of those once-every years kind of group) and replaced them with 6 small freshmen. Those freshmen had to play way too many snaps, and our future numbers paint a story of we either co-op, 8-man, or no football. We are choosing 8-man. Our town has a history of 8-man in the 1950's, so it isn't too far out of the communities memory for us. Our football team played an exhibition 8-man scrimmage on the Thursday before everyone else's playoff game for our community to attend. We had a decent crowd. I am going to be honest, I coached 11-man football for 30 years, and never thought we should "drop down" to 8-man, but after watching that exhibition game, and some youtube videos, it is still football!!!

34 The Changes to the Game Typically - 8 Man is played 1 Center 2 guards/tackles 2 ends/receivers 3 backs (Quarterback, half/full/tail)

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36 The Timeline October 18th Board Meeting October 26th Player/Parent Meeting November 8th Board Meeting December 1st State 8 Man Deadline Initial presentation of 8 man proposal to Frederic School Board. Tonight Formal resolution adopted? To be WIAA Playoff Eligible in 8 Man in 2018, we need to notify the state by this deadline.

37 Thank You!

38 The Proposal Tonight I want to recommend that the board make or consider a resolution to pursue WIAA 8 Man Football for all Frederic Football Programs starting in the fall of In this presentation we will take a look at 8 man statewide and eligibility, the challenge of 11 man for Frederic in the near future, our projected enrollment and participation, the 11 and 8 man conferences in our area, and other schools making the switch and their reasoning. Coach Belanger is here to talk about the changes in the game itself and the field. We will discuss its benefits and drawbacks and be happy to entertain any questions as the timeline for decision has us in a pressing situation.

39 As an Athletic Director trying to schedule games... When we schedule games are we going to promise opponents we will have 22 or 16 kids? This isn t just an issue of putting enough kids out there for a varsity game each week. WE NEED A JV TEAM TO PROTECT YOUNGER PLAYERS AND BUILD THE PROGRAM Teams that have been in this situation usually found that without JV full schedules, numbers dwindled, and eventually they lost football, not just games, years without enough kids to have programs. Please don t forget, our final two varsity games this season were played with a total of 17 kids on the sideline for each one.

40 Why not 8 Man in Frederic? It is still football and this town loves a competitive football team and we have good football athletes. Maybe not enough for 11 man, but we will have success in 8 man. Change is hard, but the more of us that rally together the better the chance is for our kids. Next year is the first year of the WIAA State Playoff field for 8 man. There will be a champion at Camp Randall with all schools competing under 200 in enrollment. Division 7 in 11 man will very likely be absorbed by 6 in the coming years making the 11 man playoff field smaller and even harder for teams under 200 to have a chance.