An extra-curricular athletic club recently rolled out by Crawfordsville schools has students vying for position to get in.
Originally anticipating about 40 participants, the program has seen 145 requests to join so far at Nicholson after a successful debut at Hoover last semester.
“The Athenian Sports Club is a new initiative this year to get kids involved in physical activity,” Superintendent Dr. Scott Bowling said. “We started piloting it at Hoover ... and it’s been a real success, so we’re opening it at Nicholson.”
The 40 spots initially available for the additional program at Nicholson proved to be sorely underestimated as applications received number nearly four times that amount.
“There’s demand there and that’s so cool because it’s a good problem to have — it tells me the kids want to be involved in those things but, for whatever reason, their parents aren’t taking them to those sorts of things,” Bowling said.
Seeing the need, the schools provide transportation home from the program at the end of the day.
“It says kids are comfortable with the school,” Crawfordsville Schools board member Ellen Ball said.
Fellow board member Kent Minnette also weighed in on transportation needs and the success of Hoover athletics.
“After-school programs at Hoover have seen a big
impact,” he said. “The volleyball league they have, the basketball league ... Coach Pierce put together a county league that’s available for everyone — you have to drive. But the number of kids who participate in the ‘after-school’ have been so much broader.”
Administrators also discussed adding a second day to the weekly program to accommodate more students. They are expected to do so.
Initially, requests received a time stamp so those applying would be selected on a first-come-first-served basis. However, after seeing so many requests, a “lottery” system was used.
“I’m not sure where that will end up, but I think it will be a multi-year process to figure out,” Bowling said. “But I think they key takeaway to know is that kids really do want to be involved in after-school stuff. Now the trick of ‘how do we do it’ and ‘how to we pay for it’ comes.
For more information about the Athenian Sports Club, contact Hoover Elementary at 765-362-2691.
