BY NICK ALBANO, Editor
This school year, 500 student – athletes put on a Kaneland jersey. While it’s easy to assume that the 18 sports offered would easily satisfy the need of Kaneland, many students are looking for new options.
“I wish we had an archery team. I mean, have you seen ‘Lord of the Rings’? It’s also cool to look up at the Wall of Fame and see that we had a state qualifying team back in the 70’s, and it would just be cool to bring it back.” junior Donnie Seawall said.
“I wish we had a badminton team for girls it would have been a lot of fun to watch,” senior Hannah DeWar said.
“I hear kids all the time talking about how cool it would be to have a men’s volleyball team,” freshman Colin Turner said
Other schools east of Kaneland offer more sports for its students. Geneva and Batavia offer 24 and both St. Charles schools offer 30. But the reason these schools offer more sports is simply because they have more money and students. Conference schools Sycamore, Yorkville and Rochelle offer 18.
“In order to add a sport, we need the money. We need the space, then the interest from the students. Money is the most important, followed by space and lastly by the interest of the students because without the money, you cant do much,” athletic director Leigh Jaffke said.
In the next two years, Kaneland High School is expected to cap at around 1,500 students, so the possibility of Kaneland ever having 30 sports is not likely. With the current economic status of Kaneland, it’s also not likely that the school will be seeing another sport added anytime soon
“With budget constraints right now, we can’t even buy uniforms. We’ve had to cut coaches and sponsors. I’ve had to cut seven coaches in the last couple of years. We’ve had to cut a lot of people,” Jaffke said.
But if the budget does increase in the future, then with the rising student population, there would be a possibility of adding new sports.
“Well, badminton would be hard to do because of space. We don’t have the physical space to do that sport during the winter. Mens volleyball and tennis is more of a possibility. But in order to add one sport, we have to add another. It has to be Title 9 compliant,” Jaffke said.
Title 9 states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity.” So, for every men’s sport added, there must be a women’s sport. An example is football. Football is an exclusively boys (unless you are a female kicker) sport, and womans tennis is an exclusively female sport in the fall. So, for students hoping to spend a Friday night cheering on the woman’s badminton team or men’s volleyball team, it may not be the best idea to get your hopes up because it may not happen during your high school career. But the good news is that the athletic department does understand that there is an interest in adding a new sport.
“I will be releasing a survey, for six to 11th grade to see if the interest is there for adding a new sport,” Jaffke said.