The Worth County School Board voted Thursday at their regular board meeting, on a 6-0-1 vote, with Amber Monticue abstaining, to join the Northeast Nodaway baseball cooperative effective next Spring. The move means that Northeast Nodaway will compete in Class 2 next year. Two months ago, Northeast had approached Worth County about joining them in a baseball cooperative, citing declining numbers. This year's squad has 13 players out, with six seniors graduating and two incoming freshmen, which would have given them 9 players unless they could recruit people from the girls softball team or from the student body.
The upside for Worth County was the high level of community and student interest in baseball. The school had surveyed students before the meeting in grades 8-11, with 22 showing interest, including 7 who were not interested in track but who were interested in baseball. There would be 12 who would do both baseball and track if allowed to do both. If forced to choose just one, 6 would do track and 13 would do baseball.
Board member Amanda Gilland said there would be community support if involvement in the summer baseball programs is any indication. She is heavily involved in the summer programs, and said she was dumbfounded by the level of support for the program.
Having its own program for Worth County was not an option, since its ball diamond has a 200 foot porch in right field and changing it would involve a lot of moving dirt. Concerns raised included transportation issues, the track and golf programs, and scheduling. The school is already short one bus driver, and training for a new bus driver involves two full time weeks plus the time it takes to obtain the appropriate license. A common argument raised against it was the track program. The top three boys track programs in the area, Worth County, Mound City, and Stanberry, consistently post in the top three in track and don't offer baseball for this year.
A big argument raised in favor of the cooperative agreement was the fact that it would give kids opportunities. "We never know unless we try," said board member Michael Mullock, who made the successful motion to join the cooperative. One factor that swayed board members was the opportunity it will give to students who will not do any other sport. New board member Josh Fletchall said that he didn't do any sports in school, but would have done baseball if it was offered.
Under MSHSAA rules, cooperative agreements are for one year, unless the participating schools agree to do it for longer. West Nodaway and Nodaway-Holt have such an agreement for all sports.
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