OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Plunging participation in girls basketball led one of Nebraska's largest high schools to cancel its varsity team for the year.
The decision by Grand Island Senior High School — the state's third-largest with more than 2,600 students — reflects a national decline in participation in the girls sport, even as the popularity of women's basketball behind the likes of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese has sent record numbers of fans flocking to arenas or tuning in on TV.
Schools across the country have made similar choices, but that hasn’t made the move any easier for those passionate about Grand Island basketball.
“We’ve seen the train coming. I mean we’ve been sitting on the tracks forever. But frankly, people just didn’t want to do the heavy lifting that was required,” said Jeremy Jensen, a former Grand Island mayor and high school soccer coach who wishes more had been done to build a sustainable girls basketball program.
What happened in Grand Island?
The high school in the largely blue-collar city of 52,000 about 120 miles (190 kilometers) west of Omaha decided to cancel its varsity and junior varsity teams this year after no juniors or seniors went out for the sport.
The team suffered a series of lopsided losses, and with many young athletes choosing to specialize in one sport and other activities competing for girls' time, the school decided to focus on developing young players instead of putting a team of freshman and sophomores on the court.
Still, the school's decision was jarring at a time when college and professional women's basketball has been surging in popularity, partly due to the phenomenal success of WNBA Indiana Fever guard Clark, who set records at the University of Iowa.
Kansas State University women’s basketball coach Jeff Mittie said more viewers doesn't necessarily mean more players.
“Certainly in college, all of our games are on TV, easy for people to find, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re playing the sport,” Mittie said. "It just means they’re interested in watching it.”
A declining trend
Since Clark was born 22 years ago, participation in girls high school basketball has dropped nearly 20% and the sport has fallen from most popular to number four behind volleyball, soccer and track and field, which all have seen double-digit surges in participation, according to the ϳԹ Federation of State High School Associations.
Even as the basketball numbers have dropped, total participation in high school sports has grown, with more than 3.4 million girls competing in high school sports last year.
Losing takes a toll
In the past few years in Grand Island, Jim Ward watched every player on his oldest daughter's middle school team quit basketball in high school, either to focus on another sport like volleyball or wrestling or because they lost interest. During that time, the high school girls team was losing games by margins of 70 points or more.
The team lost 43 of its last 44 varsity games and has not won more than three games in a season since 2016-17, with its last winning season in 2009-10.
“If you’re Grand Island going into Omaha facing some kids that are going to go D-1 (Division I) and you can only keep up with them for the first half of the first quarter, would you want to play longer?” asked Ward, who serves on the booster club board and has a daughter on the team in 10th grade.
Kelli Jefferies knows success is possible in Grand Island because she led the school to its only state championship in 1979 as a player and racked up 231 victories over 33 years as coach before stepping down in 2012.
But Jefferies said she understands the current struggles.
“When you’re not really able to compete and be competitive, you can see why kids don’t want to do it anymore,” Jefferies said. “That’s not fun for everyone, for coaches and players and anyone involved."
Costly competition
The problems in Grand Island and elsewhere run much deeper than a losing record.
In some communities it can be hard for girls to find opportunities to compete and learn the game when they are young. Many families can't afford to invest the thousands of dollars and countless hours required to play club basketball to prepare them to compete in high school, putting them behind in development.
As teams get competitive earlier and earlier, girls might quit the sport if they are cut in grade school.
Families in Grand Island who want their kids to compete at the highest levels of club sports must drive about two hours twice a week to Lincoln or Omaha for practices and again on the weekends for tournaments if they are not traveling farther to other cities.
Can the sport recover?
Grand Island’s current coach, Kathryn Langrehr, works with middle schoolers and offers free basketball clinics at all the city’s elementary schools to help build a pipeline of players for the sport.
But rebuilding could be challenging, especially given the pressure on kids to specialize in just one sport.
“It kind of speaks to the world that we’re living in with club sports and specialization of sports, where kids want to participate or are only able to participate in one activity," said Jon Dolliver, who oversees basketball at the Nebraska School Activities Association.
Volleyball in particular as the sport became much on television and social media and the U.S. emerged as a world power.
The sport is especially popular in Nebraska, where Creighton University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the state system's flagship campus, are ranked in the collegiate top 10. Nebraska on Friday. Last year, 92,003 people to watch a volleyball match, setting a world record for attendance at a women's sporting event.
Brandon Traudt's daughter was a strong basketball player in middle school after growing up alongside her brother Isaac, who now plays for Creighton, but she always preferred volleyball. She will soon pursue that passion at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
“I think girls just naturally — especially in the state of Nebraska — gravitate towards volleyball,” Traudt said. “Volleyball is just very, very good in this state.”
Maybe the popularity of the WNBA and players like Clark could change the trends, but Ward, the Grand Island dad, can envision an 8-year-old telling her parents she wants to play basketball only to be told there is no time for that with volleyball and dance.
“I think the Caitlin Clark thing — it’s tough to say if this third grader sees it that she’s just going to quit volleyball and start playing basketball now. I don’t know," Ward said.
