BETHLEHEM, Pa. — With its 1,500 or so student-athletes across 28 total sports offered at Freedom and Liberty high schools, Bethlehem Area School District officials said Monday some team rosters have shrunk.
Both of the high schools’ athletic directors told the school board's curriculum committee they would like to talk more with the district and its stakeholders on the future of local school sports programming.
“We are able to provide our kids with what they need right now to play sports in our district. It is tight; we watch every nickel, and we make sure we spend wisely.”Liberty High School Athletic Director Fred Harris
“We are able to provide our kids with what they need right now to play sports in our district,” Liberty High School Athletic Director Fred Harris said. “It is tight; we watch every nickel, and we make sure we spend wisely.”
Freedom High School Athletic Director Nate Stannard said, “A lot of our kids now are specializing in a specific sport. We’re not seeing as many multi-sport athletes anymore.”
Some growth, some challenges
Over the past decade or so, Stannard said, BASD has added boys and girls indoor track, girls wrestling and boys and girls lacrosse.
He said wrestling is “growing tremendously,” with the girls wrestling programs for both schools approved two years ago.
But turnout for middle-school cross country is showing low participation at some area middle schools, he said.
Middle-school field hockey had two teams this year, including a group of combined students from Broughal, Northeast and Nitschmann middle schools, and another of exclusively East Hills Middle students because of turnout.
Fielding four proper middle-school softball teams bodes challenges for the district, Harris said.
While Northeast has a field of its own, only seven students wanted to play — a handful of players from Broughal joined with Northeast to form a team.
"A lot of our kids now are specializing in a specific sport. We’re not seeing as many multi-sport athletes anymore.”Freedom High School Athletic Director Nate Stannard
Upwards of 50 girls at East Hills wanted to play soccer, they reported, with enough interest to split into a co-ed format.
Field hockey, however, doesn’t show the same interest. That isn’t stopping the coaches at Freedom and Liberty from running community programs for sports such as field hockey.
“We’re trying to build that interest, but right now that might be a two-team program where we combine our middle schools,” Harris said.
“We need to have these conversations with our community and with you.”
Transportation access doesn’t appear to be a contributing factor to the decline in roster sizes, officials said.
Leveling the playing field
Harris said that Fit for Life — a year-round comprehensive strength and conditioning program through St. Luke’s University Health Network — is going strong.
It offers students a crash course in sports to gauge interest before committing to a team when they get to high school, he said.
Intramural offerings level the playing field regarding financial access to the sport, he said.
“Volleyball is a sport that really is club-driven, and if a kid doesn’t play club volleyball, they get to our high school, they're at a huge disadvantage,” Harris said of Fit for Life.
School board member Michael Recchiuti said the city could use more well-established feeder programs for the younger athletes.
Board Vice President Shannon Patrick said, “I think we really need to put a call out to the city of Bethlehem and all of our townships, because we have no consolidated program."
“We have something in our high schools that clubs can’t do, and that’s we pick based on ability — and that’s a good thing,” Harris said.
“Our high schools are special because our kids can do things like be in the play and play [sports], or be in the band.”
“Maybe next year we use it as a deliberate time to do a program evaluation, collect the data, look at what the research says, look at future trends and then make a plan to step into what the future of our athletic program would look like."Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent Jack Silva
Board member Winston Alozie recommended starting an athletics support committee to have relevant programming discussions moving forward.
Schools Superintendent Jack Silva said he couldn’t imagine what a school would be without its sports teams, and the Bethlehem area’s student-athletes are “as good as they get.”
“Maybe next year we use it as a deliberate time to do a program evaluation, collect the data, look at what the research says," Silva said.
"Look at future trends and then make a plan to step into what the future of our athletic program would look like.”
