Bucking trend, town adds a sport
While some communities struggle to fund school sports and have even considered cutting them, as in Stoneham, Andover is expanding its athletic offerings.
The Andover School Committee voted unanimously last week to add wrestling as a high school junior varsity sport. Committee member Anthony James said it was an easy decision given community support and the nearly $25,000 raised privately for the program.
"We have been fortunate in the past few years to sort of buck the trend," James said. "The town and its citizens have been very generous."
The case in Andover is not necessarily about greater resources. Bill Fahey, director of Andover Youth Services, has had success in the past by funding junior varsity and varsity lacrosse through private donations. He said those programs are now funded by the school.
Fahey helped reintroduce wrestling two years ago in Andover and this past year added it as a club sport at the high school. H e is considering junior varsity golf to further expand opportunities for younger students.
When Andover Youth Services started a wrestling program two years ago, about 50 students participated, including a couple of girls. There were about 30 students from grades 9 to 12 participating in the club team last year.
The first year of the junior varsity program will cost about $10,000, said Brian McNally, co director of the Andover Athletic Department. The goal is to move to a varsity schedule in the third year, which would about double the cost of the program because of the need for an additional coach and more travel.
James said the School Committee was impressed with the student interest and parental support. He said there was an expressed intent to privately fund the program for up to four years.
Before this past year, the high school had not featured wrestling since 1979, when it was a club team, according to Fahey. He sees it as a natural fit. "The whole Merrimack Valley has wrestling except Andover," he said.
McNally is now working to line up matches with schools in the Merrimack Valley Conference. In the collegiality of the sport, members of soon-to-be competing teams have been very supportive, he said.
"I just hope that it proves successful for us in terms of student interest," McNally said.
The Andover wrestling expansion comes as Stoneham struggles to preserve its sports program. After voters rejected a tax increase, Stoneham officials moved to cut all high school sports, among other popular school programs, only to reconsider and preserve athletics and some programs with revenue from a higher fee for trash collection.
The stark contrast is not lost on Fahey. "It's unfortunate that they had to throw sports on the table," he said.
How can one town thrive while another struggles so?
"I don't know what the story is," said Michael Lahiff, who last week left Stoneham High School as director of health, physical education, and athletics to become athletic director in Watertown. The potential loss of athletics, and his job, inspired him to move on. "It would be good to look at how towns fund sports."
Lahiff said it comes down to a matter of state aid and a town's commercial tax base. With a third of Stoneham being state park land, thanks to the Middlesex Fells Reservation, the town has long worked to expand its available business and commercial properties as it continues to fight for better state aid.
In net state aid for the fiscal year end ed June 30, Andover (population 31,247) received $6.6 million to $6 million for Stoneham (population 22,219). The average single-family tax bill last year was $6,658 in Andover and $4,198 in Stoneham, according to the state Department of Revenue.
However, the real disparity appears to be in tax revenues. Andover's combined commercial and industrial tax levy generated $22 million last year, compared with $5.5 million in Stoneham, according to state statistics.
Regardless of any revenue inequities, Lahiff said no community should be without sports. He said sports round out a young person's education. "It's an unbelievable part of it," he said. "Many of these things are what draw kids into the building."
Athletic departments often adjust, cut, and expand their activities to account for community interests and students available to participate, Lahiff said. Stoneham High School actually cut its wrestling program a few years ago, he noted. But in the past five years, under Lahiff, Stoneham launched girls' swimming and girls' hockey.
Wrestling will join nearly 30 other sports programs at Andover High, by McNally's count. Stoneham has about 20 programs. The two schools offer many of the same sports, except when it comes to club sports. Andover High has a rich diversity of student clubs, including martial arts, dance, crew, badminton, mountain climbing, paint ball, and scuba.
Andover Selectman Alex Vispoli said the opportunities reflect a town that has long enjoyed various athletic pursuits. While acknowledging the fiscal constraints when it comes to funding sports and other school activities, he said a community must do what it can to enrich a high school education.
As a former high school wrestler growing up in New Jersey, Vispoli could not hide his excitement for the new program and in light of Stoneham's battle to preserve high school sports. "I absolutely feel fortunate we're able to do this," he said.
