Schools on the islands striking out with leagues

Two years ago, other school systems thought it was a good idea to allow Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket trial membership in their sports leagues.

Then a visiting field hockey player got seasick while crossing Vineyard Sound. A gull pooped on a softball player, and a baseball pitcher felt queasy right before a big game.

Suddenly, the island retreats of senators, socialites, and sunburned tourists are unpopular in the world of high school sports. In January, the nine-member South Coast Conference voted the Vineyarders out of the league without explanation, effective at the end of this season. Last fall, the 19-school Mayflower League booted Nantucket's baseball and softball teams, because the island is too far away.

The ejections are igniting a bitter cross-water dispute. Island officials are accusing mainland high schools of hurting their sports programs by taking away the prestige of playing in a league and are calling on the state athletic association and lawmakers to push schools to reinstate them.

Mainland parents and league officials say they appreciate the islands as summertime tourist destinations, when visitors can ride bicycles, savor big scoops of ice cream, and swim. But, they say, travel there during the school year, and especially in the winter, is too much of a burden.

To play away games on the islands, mainland students leave school early, endure a shivering wait on the docks for the ferry, and then get home late on a school night. Parents fret about safety on the ferries when the weather is bad.

"It was a long day for her," said Colleen Coscia , the mother of a softball player at Apponequet Regional High School in Lakeville, near New Bedford, referring to last year's game on the Vineyard. "It was cold. It rained. . . . It wasn't a fun day."

Island officials say league membership is important because it guarantees teams a set of opponents. Schools that do not belong to leagues must beg teams to agree to play. Also, they said, nonleague students cannot be named league all-stars or win league championships, which could affect their chances of getting college scholarships.

Principal Margaret Regan of Martha's Vineyard Regional High School , which is in Oak Bluffs, said not being in a league is a "logistics nightmare." She said other principals are overreacting to a trip that each student takes once or twice a year.

"Kids throw up on school buses as well," Regan said. "We're such a tourist attraction. But we can't get ourselves in a league . . . in our own state."

The islands and Cape Cod were in a league together until 1999, when schools decided that evolving enrollment disparities were making rivalries uneven. The islands joined leagues for a few sports, like football. But for most sports, the islands were on their own.

In 2005-2006, the Mayflower League granted Nantucket High School , which has 400 students, a one-year trial for baseball and softball, and the South Coast Conference accepted Martha's Vineyard Regional High, which has 800 students, for a two-year trial in soccer, field hockey, basketball, ice hockey, baseball, and softball.

Islanders say the leagues spawned rivalries that packed the stands with fans. This year, the Vineyard sold 240 all-game passes to students , up from 170 last year.

The islanders have a mixed record in the leagues, but the Vineyard captured the championships in boys soccer and hockey this year. About 300 Vineyarders and 150 Nantucket Whalers play spring sports, more than a third of each school.

"Everybody's coming out to school games now," said Kendall Chaves , 16, a Vineyard baseball player. "This South Coast Conference has brought a lot to this school."

Grateful islanders treated visiting opponents to pizza, sandwiches, and drinks after each game. The Vineyard picked up the $33,000 in ferry costs for other teams. Nantucket negotiated a $10-a-head discount rate on the ferry.

On the mainland, enthusiasm waned.

Superintendents of Freetown-Lakeville and Swansea, two of the nine full-fledged South Coast Conference members, said they were unhappy that students missed class for games on the island. In interviews, they said the Vineyard's trial membership in the league had not worked out.

"They've got good student athletes and a good program," said Swansea Superintendent Stephan Flanagan. "The problem -- probably what you hear a lot around Boston -- is the commute."

Vineyard officials said the conference president, Linda Enos , principal of Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School, never explained the decision, and has not responded to complaints that the vote violated the conference's bylaws. Enos did not return telephone calls and e-mails from the Globe.

David Balch , executive secretary of the Mayflower League, said Nantucket's opponents also worried about academics -- and transportation costs.

Paul Wetzel , spokesman for the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association , which governs public and private high school sports, said the association would like all teams to play, but cannot require leagues to accept them. Playing sports is a privilege, not an entitlement, he said.

But island students, who typically travel to the mainland for many reasons throughout the year, say they should not be punished for where they live.

"I don't think it's that big of a deal," said Kelly Silvia, 17, a softball player, on the 45-minute ferry ride from Vineyard Haven to Woods Hole this week, where the teams caught a bus for another hour's ride to the game in Lakeville.

Teammate Amira Madison , 18, who listens to music to avoid seasickness, nodded: "If you're dedicated to a sport it shouldn't matter how far you go."

Maria Sacchetti can be reached at msacchetti@globe.com.