The administration at Sibley-Ocheyedan High School have said in a letter that they will not have varsity girls’ basketball for the upcoming 2023-2024 season.
The written letter goes as follows:
After much consideration we share with you that we have made the decision to not have a varsity girls basketball schedule for the 2023-2024 season. We will be running a JV and JVR
schedule for the current season. This decision was not made lightly, but we do feel this is the best decision for the program long term. Co-head coaches Ashton Reiter and Madison Nagel, Athletic Director Amie Elser, and 7-12 Principal Casey Hertz have had multiple conversations with any student who has expressed interest in playing. Through this intensive recruitment process we have encouraged several girls to commit to playing this year.
Why have we made this decision? One factor is based on the total number of girls committed to playing this year and the number of returning upperclassmen. At this point we have
roughly 13 girls 9-12 committed to playing girls basketball this season. Our primary concern is the lack of upperclassmen and in general lack of basketball experience. While other programs in the conference have similar numbers of 12-15 players, we are in a unique position in that we do not have the experience and upperclassmen to compete at the varsity level.
The focus of the District and the Girls Basketball Program will be to grow the program both in numbers and experience. We fully intend and will do everything in our power to have a
varsity program when it is best for our students, program, and community. Again, we did not make this decision lightly. Please continue to encourage your students to get involved and help us to continue to build not just girls basketball but all of our school programs.
