Saginaw High School and Arthur Hill high school announced plans for a potential merger at a board meeting on February 8th. Should the merger go through the schools will have a lot to figure out, but for the athletic programs it is something they’re already preparing for.
Saginaw public school district athletic director Mit Foley said next year they plan to expand the current roster co-op teams to include football.
“Well right now we don’t currently have a Junior Varsity or Freshman football team, which is problematic, we have a lot of kids that want to participate, but a lot of 14 year olds don’t wanna just jump to a varsity, especially in the saginaw valley league, it is a very competitive league so we just want to make sure our kids to be prepared,” said Foley.
Foley said the new JV and freshman teams will allow for a safer and stronger program which will help younger athletes to get experience, and not be forced to compete against older students.
He said the merger is something that has been hoped for by some students.
“The students are excited about this,” he said, “as a matter of fact when it comes to football, the captains of the football teams last year actually came up to the board and wanted to schedule a meeting with the superintendent because they wanted to merge the teams so they were more competitive.”
Foley said benefits would also be seen in other sports that are already co-oping for JV and Freshman teams. He explained that the co-op teams will help make a smooth transition to the fully merged program, as students will already have built teamwork and relationships with one another.
He said, “this is a great opportunity to enhance our programming and get back to a point where we’re competitive and can offer a greater variety of sports.”
Foley said he sees the merger as a chance to have a stronger sports program. He said with a stronger program there will be more chances for more students to get noticed and have scholarship opportunities.