Most of the sixth graders at Andrew Lewis Middle School have been limited to spectator duty when it comes to interscholastic sports.
The Salem City Schools board was informed on Tuesday night that will change in many cases this spring.
Superintendent Curtis Hicks informed the board during a work session prior to their monthly meeting that first-years at ALMS will have the chance to try out for four of the six sports offered — boys and girls soccer, baseball and softball — in the spring.
“Compared to 4 or 5 years ago, our participation numbers are down,” Hicks told the board, “We have a lot of sports in the spring competing for student athletes.”
Hicks said there are already sports open to sixth grade kids — girls volleyball, wrestling and cross country — because the city does not sponsor any recreation-level leagues for those activities. Now the opportunities will expand.
He offered several reasons for expanding the opportunities. The first was that Andrew Lewis is a rare exception where sixth graders are currently sidelined.
The middle schools the Wolverines commonly compete with in Roanoke, Pulaski, Montgomery and Botetourt counties, as well as the Roanoke City Schools, have already opened middle school sports to sixth grade students. The only exception is at Botetourt, which does not let sixth graders play football or track.
There are internal reasons, too.
Sports specialization has reduced the number of multi-sport athletes in both middle and high school, Hicks believes, which means a smaller pool of potential participants. That has led to coaches and athletic directors looking for ways to fill junior varsity teams in some events.
When that is the case, the option is to cut the kids that would otherwise play JV, or to bring up eighth grade students, which is allowed by the Virginia High School League.
“When we didn’t have enough kids for a JV team without pulling some eighth graders up, we became a little more liberal about it,” Hicks said. “But we only wanted to do it when they are making a meaningful contribution.
“But I think we’ve done a good job of doing it like that. There’s always been good communication between the middle school and high school coaches.”
But when top eighth graders are pulled up, the middle school pool is thinned, so adding a third class of potential players can relieve that stress. Hicks said the feedback he’s received from the Andrew Lewis coaches and administrators about the sports that already allow sixth grade participants has been positive, and now is a good time to expand.
