By Dominik Lobkowicz
Naomi Miller (center), president of the Medomak Youth Football Program, receives a hug as the audience applauds the approval of varsity football at Medomak Valley High School. (D. Lobkowicz photo) |
Acting in front of a sea of blue and gold, the RSU 40 Board of Directors voted Jan. 22 to approve a varsity football team at Medomak Valley High School for a three year
probationary term, just one year after its approval of a school club team.
“We’re so excited, this is what we’ve worked so hard for, the kids, the players, the community, the parents, the coaches. The school board, they listened to
the community,” said Naomi Miller, president of the Medomak Valley Youth Football.
The now-varsity team grew out of the youth program after grades 9-12 were added in 2012.
“We’re going to continue to work hard, we’ve got a lot of funding to do, and this is just the next step. This is just one more step in the right direction,”
Miller said.
The board’s decision followed an hour of public comments from community members, players, parents, and others, mostly in support of the move to varsity.
Still, comparatively few spoke in comparison to the hundreds people in attendance at the meeting.
A number of people, including team members, spoke to the benefits having a varsity program could bring to players, such as motivation for improving their
school performance for eligibility, leadership opportunities, and a place to belong and feel connected to the school.
Ben Vail, former principal of Medomak Middle School, was one to speak about the impact of involvement on students.
“There is a direct correlation between school involvement and life success,” Vail said. “It happened to me, and I was an indifferent student.”
“My connections I have made through athletics informed my life, and I have seen it already in these young men,” he said.
Not all in attendance were in favor, however.
Mike Ledger, a Union resident who works for the district as bus driver, was opposed to a varsity football team, saying the district’s funding is spread thin
enough and should instead be focused on academics.
Ledger also pointed to difficulties the district already has regarding its amount of buses and bus drivers. Ledger said he had return to the district to
drive bus routes both when his father was dying and during the birth of his first granddaughter.
“I would recommend you invest in the many, not in the few,” Ledger said.
Medomak senior Gavin Felch spoke against the varsity move as well, and pointed to staffing concerns as well as issues with the condition of the high school
building.
“I do believe football is a great program, the athletes are great kids, great coaches, but I just don’t believe it’s the time for football,” Felch said.
The cost of the varsity program did come up in discussions.
At the Jan. 15 meeting, Naomi Miller said it was the program’s intent to donate about $20,000 worth of equipment to the district if the football club was
approved as a varsity team.
Annual costs were outlined in a written report from Athletic Director Matt Lash to Superintendent Steve Nolan and included $3,500 for transportation and
$3,000 for officials (both for varsity and junior varsity), $2,000 for annual reconditioning of 50 helmets, $1,000 for athletic field paint, $1,000 for dues and video,
and $2,500 on other game staff.
According to Miller, the intent is for the community and business owners to continue supporting those costs for at least another year.
“The outpouring from the community is immense,” she said.
The one cost the program is asking the district to take on next year is the coaches’ stipends. What the request will be for the coming year was not
discussed, but Lash said previously the stipends for a head coach and two assistants could grow to $10,000 within two to four years.
At the Jan. 22 meeting, Duane Vigue, a selectman from Washington, said business owners would be “attacking” Lash to get their names out there in association
with the program.
“I hope you folks as a board have enough faith in your community and the businessmen in your community to help you support this program,” Vigue said.
At their Jan.15 meeting board members feelings were initially mixed, with some pushing to take the issue to referendum and others wanting to wait until the
dust settled from the upcoming annual budget process before addressing any additional expense from a varsity football team.
Only one board member voiced opposition at the board’s Jan. 15 meeting: Guy Bourrie, of Washington. Bourrie pointed to brain injuries and the violent nature
of the sport as justification for his point of view.
It was Bourrie, however, who made the motion to approve the shift to varsity with a two-year probationary period. The motion was later amended to include a
three-year probationary period, and Bourrie was among those voting in favor of its ultimate approval.
Bourrie said he remained anti-football, but paraphrased Shakespeare: “There is more twixt heaven and hell than lies within your philosophy, Horatio.”
The final weighted vote of the board was 730-120-73, with Chair Danny Jackson, of Waldoboro, and Ann Donaldson, of Union, in opposition and Sandra
O’Farrell, of Waldoboro, abstaining.
