There is so much more that goes into a coop than just saying “coop” three times and clicking your heels. I agree it is generally the ideal solution, but realistically it is not always viable.
Without fail the main issue is with parents. My kid will start on a crappy 1-7 team but not see the field if we coop and create more competition during practice. Now my kid has to practice at another school and gets home at 7:30 every night. When I played against School A in high school they were a bunch of jerks. I don’t want my kid associated with those people. On and on and on.
Then are issues of school and community pride. What colors? What’s the mascot? Why are School A’s colors represented more than School B’s? So we have to repaint our facility? What do we do with all the old gear? On and on and on.
Finally, the logistics. Where do we practice? Where do we play? How do we transport to these locations? Why does School A have more home games than School B? On and on and on.
Can all these problems be addressed? Of course, but problem number 1 often makes problems 2 and 3 worse and sometimes insurmountable.
Not sure how many of you have had the chance to attend co-op formation meetings but this is spot on but there are other things as well. I did get to attend some of these meetings when co-oping was being discussed around 10-11 years ago for our school. But some of things you hear at these meetings makes you wonder what people are really thinking.
Our district had girls numbers that were terribly low (6-7 out for basketball) but were going to get much better. But the boys number was bad enough that single digit participation for football and basketball was going to happen also. We finished the previous year in football with 9 players in last game of season. Some people thought we should keep girls sports only and let boys opt out to wherever they wanted. Some guy thought playing varsity basketball with 6 would be fine and got mad when another patron questioned what do you do if injury or foul trouble occurs. Later that night he had to go to hospital for chest pains because he was upset other patron questioned that his 6 man roster wouldn't work. The football coach was against it even though there was very good chance there would be no football team. And with his wife being a teacher he had a group of teachers convinced that a co-op would lead to consolidation. It's actually helped keep the school open. And let's not forget the gal that shows up 45 minutes late so lots of things have to be repeated. And then there's the older guy who is completely against it because "our town" will lose its' identity and we will lose the grocery store, post office, etc.
I was for the co-op because I was tired of my daughter's teams being pretty much uncompetitive in volleyball and getting beaten by 30+ on a regular basis in basketball. And even having to watch them finish a game with only 4 players on the floor. Even though she was only part of the co-op her senior year. You'd really be surprised how different an attitude can change in going from 1 and 2 win teams to a double digit win season. Fortunately the co-op did get approved and has been successful. There are still some things that pop up once in a while but good administrators who are willing to listen and try to work things out make things easier.
And on a final interesting note. One guy who was against it even mentioned that we probably should have considered co-oping a couple years earlier.
So when I see these boards and/or district patrons that are against a co-op it makes me shake my head.
My apologies for getting long-winded.
And on a side note. After attending the meeting I told some friends that I wish I would have been carrying a roll of "stupid stickers" to hand out.
