May 8, 2008
Murph's Turf: Push underway for WHS girls hockey team
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Look over the list of girls sports offered at Wilton High School and there are only two noticeable absences.
Hockey and golf.
Starting next school year, the list might be cut in half.
A grassroots effort led by several parents is underway to get a girls hockey team in place at Wilton High for the 2008-09 winter season. The fledgling program will have a meeting next Wednesday, May 14, at 7:30 in the high school cafeteria to gauge interest.
The goal is to get enough players for Wilton to have its own team. The second option would be to pool players with those from another town that doesn’t have a high school program and form a co-op squad.
“Fifteen or more [players] would be a great number,” said Wilton High Athletic Director Christy Hayes, who is working with the parents to get a team started. “Twelve might be OK, but 15 would definitely be enough for us to have our own team, which is the first goal.”
Sloane Levy, one of the parents involved in the effort, thinks the higher turnout number is attainable.
“I’m encouraged,” said Levy. “I do have at least 12 players in total who have expressed a definite interest to play. In addition, more kids over the last few days have expressed an interest to learn more and come to the meeting.”
Levy said that there are at least eight Wilton girls who will be at the high school next year who currently play hockey for various club teams. That list includes one of her own daughters, who will be a freshman at the high school next fall.
But the organizers are also reaching out to girls who have never played the sport before.
“Experience is not necessary,” said Levy. “We have a few girls who are figure skaters but have never played hockey who are interested. We’re looking for girls who want to play a winter sport.”
As part of the effort, Levy’s group has been sending out e-mails to both female athletes at the high school and eighth graders involved in youth sports. Flyers have also been distributed at Wilton High spring sports games and practices.
“We’re trying to get the word out,” said Levy. “We want to reach out beyond those who play the sport.”
This past winter, seven of the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s 19 schools fielded girls hockey teams. Several of those were co-op programs involving players from more than one high school. Because girls hockey is not sanctioned by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, the state’s governing body for high school sports, players are allowed to compete for both a club team and a high school team during the same season. In this case, that double dipping is a plus.
“If some of the girls had to choose, they might stick with their club team and not play for the high school,” said Levy. “We’re fortunate that they can still play for both at this point.”
Fielding a team of Wilton-only players is not merely the first option — it may also be the only option.
Hayes said he has approached other FCIAC schools without teams about the possibility of forming a co-op program and found little interest. “There may be some potential with schools outside the FCIAC, but so far no one has committed to it,” he said.
Besides trying to find enough players, the sport also battles two other inherent problems: Cost and ice time.
“It’s an expensive sport, and there are a lot of towns without rinks who then have to find time at nearby rinks, which are already crowded,” said Hayes.
The Wilton boys team practices and plays games at the Winter Garden in Ridgefield. But that rink is already booked for next winter and wouldn’t be available to a Wilton girls team, which would likely have to play out of Danbury, Darien or Shelton.
At this point, though, the details are less important than the premise. Levy and the organizers still need enough girls to show up next Wednesday night to make the team a reality.
“We’re hopeful,” said Levy. “Our fingers are definitely crossed.”
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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