Early start times will have an impact on local sports

Ian St. Clair

Aug. 17, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- CHEYENNE -- The initial reaction was concern.

A few months later, that has morphed into bewilderment, angst and rage.

Yet try as they might, most involved in athletics here still don't fathom the plan to delay the start of school by an hour -- from 7:30 a.m. for junior and senior high school to 8:50 a.m. -- with an 8 a.m. start for elementary schools.

But this decision, still under discussion in Laramie County School District 1, will impact a lot of people's lives.

The students.

The parents.

The coaches.

Youth sports.

Parks and Recreation.

If LCSD1 goes through with this, many say their lives will be turned upside down.

"My daughters' participation in extracurricular activities will take a big hit," said Wally Erickson, a father of three girls who is deeply involved in youth soccer here. "After school, they already play school sports. How are they going to play Sting soccer? How are they going to practice Sting soccer?

"There are no lighted fields in Cheyenne. There is no place to play. We have 1,400 kids in soccer here; my daughters are just three of them.

"With the time change, you're looking at an hour and a half later for school practices to start. So that gets you at home at 7 p.m. Where are we going to practice soccer? When are my kids going to study?

"Are they going to get up at 6 in the morning to study? That kind of defeats the purpose."

Happening now

The final decision lies in the hands of LCSD1 superintendent Ted Adams and his administrative team.

It is a decision that is expected to come before the end of this calendar year and would go into effect in the fall of 2010.

School board member Hank Bailey is hoping that Adams will take into consideration what he and his other board members say.

"My reaction when I first heard about it was concern," Bailey said. "That was for two reasons: One, having had a number of my children very involved in after-school activities, I immediately saw that the there would be a potential problem with that.

"And then number two, the concern was with parents and how the community was going to respond and react to it.

"I've gotten a number of calls from concerned parents, and I have told them all the same thing, 'We need to hear from you. We need your input.'

"I do not believe this is cast in stone yet. It's still something that we're working through. Hopefully, when the final decision is made, we'll get it right."

Bailey added that he is also hopeful people will keep their minds open.

LCDS1 reviewed a study that said kids need more sleep to perform at higher levels. Mix in a third high school in 2010 and related transportation issues, and the administration felt it is time to make the change.

But those who oppose it say all extracurricular activities are getting slighted, not just sports.

"My impression is that Mr. Adams is very interested in what the community has to say about this," Bailey said. "I have a fundamental concern that no matter what we do, someone is going to be unhappy.

"Getting students to all these schools and arranging the appropriate transportation for them and everything that goes into that is not an easy task. It's something that we need to continue to discuss."

Those who feel slighted should attend a board meeting, Bailey said.

"I'm happy to voice people's concerns on their behalf (if they call me)," he said. "But it doesn't mean as much coming from me as it does from the people themselves."

The people

If LCDS1 goes through with this plan, Chris Chisholm says it won't impact his Cheyenne Extreme girls fast-pitch softball program as it will the Cheyenne Soccer Club.

The change will impact the younger teams to an extent, but it won't be, well, extreme.

Yet that's not what has him irked.

"I'm not very happy with it more on the parent (OOTC:KIDSQ) side," said Chisholm, who serves as the Extreme's president. "My daughter is a freshman this year. If this does go through like they're planning it, it will impact everybody's lives in a pretty big way.

"When I first heard about this, I thought it was crazy. All the studies they want to claim that they've looked at, I just don't buy into it. If these kids go to school later, they're just going to stay up later."

At the root of the concerns is time. When it comes to facilities, time is scrunched as it is to make everyone happy. Move everything back an hour, and problems will arise.

"Honestly, when I went to the (first) meeting, I didn't give it much thought," said Dirk Miller of the Cheyenne Soccer Club. "But as we got to talking about it, you start thinking about that extra hour and those kids.

"The junior high kids are the ones who will be most impacted because by the time they get done with school sports now they are really humping to get out of practice and get to the other practices.

"With the current schedule, it's difficult for them to do both. And, boy, if you just push that back a little bit, it's just going to make it really hard for the kids to get all that stuff in."

Then there are the recreation leagues for both youth and adults. Todd Feezer at city Parks and Recreation also is left to wonder, "What does it mean for us?"

"To say that it's going to be a mess is really not the truth," Feezer said. "It is going to impact the amount of numbers that we can have in our programs. Not only our adult programs, but our youth programs.

"Simply because it's going to cut the amount of time available to be in the schools back, and that's going to be very difficult for us to handle.

"We're pretty much 100 percent relying on the district. We've had a good relationship with most of the principals and most of the schools. But as we lose that time, we're going to have a hard time developing programs."

The one organization in town that won't feel the squeeze is the Cheyenne Capitals. Most youth hockey teams practice early in the morning, and if school starts an hour later, that would allow the Capitals to follow suit.

"From the high-school perspective, it would be very helpful," said Mark Lantz, who serves as the Wyoming Amateur Hockey League commissioner. "We're not allowed to have morning practices like other associations because our kids start so early. So that would be a positive for the older kids.

"The impact on the younger age groups, it may have some because we have a lot of kids that get home, get their homework done and out of the way and come to hockey practice. So that will cut an hour out of them doing their homework.

"I can go either way on it. But right now, I would view it as a positive for the older kids."

The end result

No one knows how this will turn out. All folks can do is voice their opinion.

"If we lived in a perfect world, my ultimate hope would be that we could keep times the way they are," Bailey said. "And still have enough buses to get everybody to school on time, and still have football, basketball, volleyball, band and everything after school the way it is now. That would be my hope.

"Whether we can get to that perfect world, I don't know. But the key is everybody involved with this keeping an open mind and doing what's right for kids."

After that, all those who are concerned can do is hope that the decision-makers take their opinions to heart.

"Everybody struggles with big change," Erickson said. "Maybe there is a way to do this that isn't such an extreme change. (One that) achieves what they're trying to do, and it also takes into account the fact that extracurricular activities are hugely important to the development of folks.

"Maybe there is a medium. I struggle getting my kids up early, but they go. And they get to bed early. But maybe there is a reasonable compromise where we're not doing it as extreme."

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