This year, 1,204 students are enrolled in the district. If that was evenly distributed into all 12 grades, that would be about 100 kids per class. Having small class sizes makes it hard to build athletic teams. Currently, the district provides 12 sport teams in total for the high school, which is below average for most schools in Michigan.
Michigan High School Athletic Association provides 28 school sports in total, and the Panthers want more. Out of 77 students, almost 86% of them want more sport opportunities. These students want to participate in boxing, swimming, lacrosse, ice hockey, rugby, tennis, badminton, field hockey, men’s volleyball and even dance. Local schools like Chelsea, Leslie, Williamston and Pinckney all have other sports that are not provided at Stockbridge.
“I tried to switch to Pinckney or Chelsea schools to join so that I could join [their swimming program], but sadly, it never worked out. When I go to college I plan to maybe join a swim club,” senior Alora Mullins said.
A junior from Chelsea believes that hockey is a valuable sport compared to others.
“Hockey is very physical and fast paced compared to other sports. It also requires more skills compared to others,” said Kyle Valik. “You have to learn how to skate well before even learning the sport.”
Skills like these filter into other parts of your life including discipline, respect, teamwork and communication.
So far, for the 2022-2023 school year, 51% of girls and 55% of boys signed up to play on a team. Offering more sports would engage more students.
“If there is interest in other sports and we can support the new programs as well as the existing programs then we would look to expand our programs,” Athletic Director Ernie Rivers said.