The District Athletic Committee Updates

DAC - 2/14/08

COOPERATIVE TEAMS UPDATE

The MIAA District Athletic Committees have responsibility for approving/rejecting cooperative team requests. Within the past two years, the District Athletic Committees have tightened the standards for cooperative team approval.

District Committee Members spent considerable time discussing their responsibility for reviewing cooperative team proposals. Some of the members felt that there were core misconceptions about cooperative teams. These misunderstandings were attributed to school and athletic leaders, parents, community members, politicians, etc. Cooperative team proposals are not viable if they are motivated to save money, or to provide an individual athlete an opportunity to participate on the team of another school. Only if the proposed host school could not on its own support a varsity team in a given sport, should a cooperative request be made.

The cooperative team request process is a deliberate, formal procedure that includes all of the stakeholders within the affected school districts, the schools in the league (or against whom the coop team will compete), and the members of the controlling MIAA District Committee.

The Committee members reaffirmed the following:

"Cooperative teams would only be approved if such was required to support a single varsity program. If sub-varsity opportunities presented themselves subsequently, then that would not interfere with approval status of the varsity cooperative team. On the other hand, approval would not be granted for a stand-alone sub-varsity team."

Committee Members also discussed the advantages of first seeking a waiver to permit middle level students to participate on the high school team (v. creating a cooperative team). This would provide additional opportunities for students who are supported by the same “tax base”, and are under the jurisdiction of the same school committee policies, etc.

Since introducing the concept of cooperative teams, the Board of Directors has been committed to ensuring that these are careful decisions, supported by all of the educational leadership within the school districts involved. Cooperative teams must be supported for the educational values they represent to the potential participating schools, rather than to individual athletes who might take the place of an athlete at the host school. Cooperative teams should focus on “team” needs, and not individual needs. Cooperative teams should not cause displacement of roster players or starters.