<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1wbq0u_0wPWN9yb00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1wbq0u_0wPWN9yb00" width="1989" height="736" ><figcaption>Buy Now West Sioux athletic director Ben Bouza speaks to members of the West Sioux School District Board of Education Monday. Bouza spoke during the discussion on the varsity girls basketball season. Bouza chalked the decline in participation up to the commitment high school sports has. Katie Anderson kanderson@nwestiowa.com</figcaption></figure>HAWARDEN—The West Sioux School District Board of Education is looking into the decrease in numbers for the high school girls basketball team. The topic was a discussion item during Monday’s meeting.“This is something that we have known about for a few years that there is going to be some limited numbers coming up and it’s not unlike what other schools are experiencing in the Siouxland Conference,” superintendent Steve Grond said. “This is not just isolated to West Sioux.”Grond told the board in 2017-18 there were 18 girls in high school basketball. Last year there were 10 girls out with two of them being seniors.According to activity director Ben Bouza, there are two juniors and five freshman who they anticipate playing girls basketball. One of the juniors is ineligible to play on the varsity squad due to being a transfer student who just moved to the district.Therefore, district administration purposed to the board the likely case West Sioux would be canceling the varsity schedule and running only a junior varsity reserved schedule.“So we could give them some experience,” Grond said. “What we would potentially do is use it as a one- or two-year solution and get some numbers back into the program there to get it built back up.”Bouza reiterated to the board the numbers are consistently declining over the past five years. He said they have gone through a number of different scenarios of what they could do to try to either share a program with another district or grow the numbers.“When you go to the high school level there is a lot more commitment,” Bouza said.Board president Larry Gregg asked if there was anything Bouza could do to encourage better participation.“If I knew, I would be doing it,” Bouza said.Board member Sunday Ford asked if a conversation has been had with the eighth-graders who aren’t going out this year as to why they aren’t.Bouza said he believes it is a variety of things.Principal Alynn Coppock added developing the program at the youth level is something that would help the program as a whole like adding more camps and getting parent involvement.Bouza said that has been happening more in the last three years.Gregg asked what role the high school coaches are doing to help develop the youth programs.“Well, one of the things that I do encourage our coaches to do is that if you want to have a quality program you should consider working with those youth kids or parents,” Bouza said. “We’ve seen some of the efforts in the other programs and they reap the benefits of it. The coach that we currently have has been working with the youth program.”Ford asked if the two juniors are upset there will not be a varsity squad.Bouza said he doesn’t believe so as they know what the competition level will be.Ford asked when the decision needs to be made as far as if the district will go with this kind of schedule. Some of the War Eagle Conference teams start their season before Thanksgiving.Grond said the decision should be made soon because the schedule needs to be worked on.“Kids just aren’t as committed and high school sports takes a lot of commitment to be competitive,” Bouza said. “So when you are part of a team that’s not being successful, you don’t get the buy in, you don’t get the commitment of it. In this current environment at our high school, they’ve been not something I can count on for a long-term commitment. There is a lot of factors.”Ford said she’s nervous about putting it on the kids as not being committed.“I say that, not because I don’t trust you, because I do, but, because I want to know from these kids that aren’t going out that this is the main reason,” Ford said. “That there isn’t anything, an underlying reason that we’re not seeing from them because we owe it to our kids to have this kind of opportunity for them and we don’t have one situation, or something that we’re not aware of to make it so that they can’t step into that role they should have, have the opportunity to do.”Ford asked for direction as to what the board can do or how they can speak with the kids who are no longer playing.Grond said he feels Bouza does a good job at talking to the kids and figuring out the reasons why there is the decline. He said he is willing to gather the information but isn’t sure what kind of questions need to be asked or information the board is looking for.Gregg said they could conduct some kind of e-mail survey that is given to girls basketball players who played in the past but aren’t this season to see if they could see why they aren’t playing.“I could do that,” Bouza said. “I think something that we do need to be careful for though is to believe everything you hear in the rumor mill. I think we have coaches that do a really nice job and we evaluate them every year. I intensely attend all of these events so that I know on how they are performing as coaches. Be careful that it’s not just a clash of personalities and that they are looking for an excuse to say ‘I’m not going to play basketball because of so and so’ when in all reality that shouldn’t be what’s keeping them because that person is doing a great job.“That’s something I think we need to be very up-front about and be aware of that there are some nefarious people out there that just want to run people down.”Board member Marissa Rehder said that group can’t be silenced though.Board member Travis Waterman suggested that the survey should be sent out in the junior high as well and perhaps to all sports to gauge where the district is at and why there is a decline.Gregg offered to help Bouza with the anonymous survey questions.Board member Russ Coons went back to the initial discussion item on if the district will be having the non-varsity schedule.“I don’t know what you’d change in the next month to get an influx of girls to go out,” Bouza said.Coons also asked if this would hurt the boys basketball schedule.Bouza said it hasn’t but he doesn’t know the long-term affect. If teams get an opportunity to get another varsity girls and boys doubleheader, he does not know if they will then cancel the game with West Sioux.</div></body>

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Varsity basketball has decline in numbers

HAWARDEN—The West Sioux School District Board of Education is looking into the decrease in numbers for the high school girls basketball team. The topic was a discussion item during Monday’s meeting. “This is something that we have known about for a few years that there is going to...