Debate Continues Over 8 Man Football At North Mahaska

North Mahaska has made the decision to stay with 11-man football. A decision that has provided both praise and criticism for the school board.

New Sharon, Iowa – As the number of student-athletes participating or attending high schools, especially in rural areas, fielding teams, especially football teams, can become a challenge.

Twin Cedars is an area school that already plays 8-man football, and Montezuma will be joining that trend this coming season as well.

For North Mahaska, the discussion of going to 8-man football got emotional during the past month. Coaching staff suggested the move to 8-man over the current 11-man style of play. School board members heard from those involved, including coaches, students, and community members.

The board voted to stay at 11-man football, a move that split the community, and prompting the football coaching staff to resign.

During a Monday night school board meeting, the board took public comments for nearly an hour on the subject.

The first three students stood up to speak in favor of 8-man football, expressing concerns about the number of players, and years of experience and the amount of time each player spends on the field. “It’s just not very safe,” said the student audience member in regards to staying 11-man.

The student speaker said he has heard from underclassman that have told him, if the program stays 11-man, they will not be participating.

“I would just really appreciate if you guys would reconsider your choice,” said the student-athlete of the board’s decision to stay 11-man.

Board president Dirk Wilkin asked for a show of hands for those who attended the community forum of what format of football to play.

Wilkin said that at the forum, he heard from many students who expressed the opposite of what the three student-athletes had just expressed.

“One of the reasons why I voted the way I did was based on the fact that, more kids on the field means more kids participating in sports,” said Wilkin. “That’s what we’re looking for, opportunities for kids to participate.”

“Everything I got prior to the vote was, ‘let’s stay 11-man, and here’s why,'” added Wilkin.

“It’s a little frustrating to see where, I think, small-town football’s kind of gone in the state of Iowa. My concern would be, some of the schools that were early to take on 8-man are even struggling in that,” said Shawn DeJong, a North Mahaska community member.

“I just hope that whatever decision is reached, we can all come back together,” added DeJong.

Wilkin echoed DeJong’s words, “We do have a split community. Not everybody sees it that way.”

Ty Kelderman, a freshman at North Mahaska, who spoke in favor of 8-man football, shared his thoughts on the subject with the board.

Kelderman said he came to the team as a quarterback, but ended up as a lineman. Kelderman said that during the first week of practice, because of his size, the choice to become a lineman was the best for the team.

“I was willing to change from a quarterback to a lineman because I knew, and the coaches knew, that it’s what’s best for the team,” added Kelderman.

Kelderman asked the school board to trust their coaches and “be willing to make a change.”

“Yes, we played 11-man football for a number of years. With the size and numbers we have, I think it’s time for a change, and that change is 8-man football,” said Kelderman.

The board expressed concern that the opinion to move to 8-man football wasn’t as much a part of the forum as those in favor of 11-man football.

One concerned individual spoke to the board saying, “I didn’t voice my opinion to you because I trusted our coaching staff and our athletic department. I understood at that forum we had, that the athletic department was presenting to the board to go to 8-man. I don’t understand why we don’t trust the athletic department for the right decision. That’s why I didn’t speak up, cause I honestly thought it was a done deal. The athletic department, this is what they are recommending. I felt that the board should follow that.”

Wilkin said that his impression from the forum and early discussion on moving to 8-man football said they preferred to stay 11-man. “some of those people have swapped sides. I don’t know why.”

“But being too small, too weak, not big enough, I think it’s kind of insulting to our kids,” added Wilkin, who said his son put on 40 lbs in the weight room to get stronger.

“We need to get our juniors and seniors good enough to compete,” said Wilkin. “How do we do that?”

“I care about the safety of these kids as much as all of you do. I want you to know that the board does. We care about our kids. I think some of us want a better program. We want to see kids develop. We want to see more kids come out and stay out. Why don’t we have the boys going out? Asked Wilkin, “Why don’t we address that?”

“I think for every problem, there’s more than one solution. Some of us only think it’s 8-man. That’s the only solution. Some of us think there are other solutions. I think the community is divided more than you think,” said Wilkin.

“I think it’s dividing communities, not just ours,” said Wilkin. “I think the board voted in good conscience of what we thought the right thing was, and then we expected to move on with the challenge, and that didn’t happen.”

“For that, I frankly don’t understand,” Wilkin added, going on to say that the numbers of students participating isn’t far off from the numbers in the 1990’s.

The board took no action on the discussion to go from 11-man to 8-man football.