Cameron Troesch of the North Union cross-country team competes during the NU Invitational last year at the high School. While the high school running ranks are strong, the Lady Cats’ middle school cross-country squad is struggling to fill its roster this year.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
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With the start of the official fall sports practice on Tuesday, coaches are getting into the rhythm of day-to-day practice and polishing their teams for the upcoming sports season. For some coaches the problem is that they have no athletes to coach.
North Union’s Jerry Sparks is one of those coaches with the experience and dedication to coach student athletes, but has only a few athletes to train.
Sparks is the coach of the North Union Middle School cross-country team. Currently, the junior Lady Cats only have two runners competing. There is one more verbally-committed scheduled to join the team later in August, said Sparks.
“I think it is basically a lack of wanting to get out of the house,” said Sparks. “We live in the age of video games and texting. It is something that we (coaches) have to learn how to work around. ”
The problem for Sparks is that he cannot currently enter a team of middle school girls to compete in Ohio High School Athletic Association events.
According to the OHSAA, schools that sponsor a girl’s cross-country team must have “five or more girls participating to host a separate girls team in order to enter OHSAA-sponsored girls tournament competition.”
If a school has trouble amassing numbers to form a girl’s team, then the girls can compete on the boy’s team as individuals in OHSAA-sponsored tournaments.
“My girls can run,” said Sparks. “I just need two more to register a team and compete for trophies. They can run for medals.”
Only seventh and eighth graders can compete in OHSAA middle school events for cross-country. Student-athletes who are younger can form school teams, but they can only compete as club sports against other schools.
To try and increase interest in the sport of cross-county at North Union, Sparks has started a team at the elementary level. “We are trying to get them at a young age to get out and get involved,” he said. “Look at what they do for baseball… they get them young.”
Sparks has some athletes who lie-in-wait to compete at the middle school level, with some sixth graders who have been competing in running sports. However, the sport as a whole has seen a decline in numbers.
“I noticed a dip in numbers on the girl’s track team as well,” said Sparks. “I have talked to other coaches and we are not alone. Other schools are also seeing less participation.”
Even with the lack of numbers, Sparks will do what comes naturally to him.
“We focus on the two or three who come out,” he said. “I want them to be worthy of all of our efforts. We are coaches to everybody.”
Sparks wants to get as many young aspiring athletes involved as he can.
“There are kids out there who might not come out because they aren’t the greatest athletes, but we at North Union are not focused on the elite, we are focused on the team,” he said. “If you want to run, then you are good enough to be on this team.”