If you build it, they will come.
It’s a mantra many of us Iowans get sick of hearing, sure.
But it’s a maxim that also has some truth to it.
We echo it this week as Lisbon is looking to start a girls’ junior high wrestling program, because there’s a growing interest among students. That’s after the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union sanctioned girls’ wrestling as an individual sport at the high school level beginning this school year.
Like activities director Brandon Horman noted, offering the program could benefit the high school moving forward, if youth at middle school find that it’s a program they want to participate in when they move to high school. It could springboard a future individual girls’ wrestling program at Lisbon, much like Mount Vernon’s program now (where a few wrestlers from Lisbon are among the roster this year).
Mount Vernon and Lisbon do a great job of embracing and offering sporting activities for all students. These are busy schools, period. Even if Mount Vernon or Lisbon athletes can’t compete at a sport in the schools of Lisbon or Mount Vernon, sharing agreements are reached with other schools where that sport is an opportunity for students. That’s how we have a few swimmers and divers who are competing at the state level from Mount Vernon this year. And Mount Vernon has established exploratories for activities like soccer at the middle school level to keep numbers growing and interest in the sport moving forward, even if it isn’t sanctioned currently because of logistics concerns in spring sports schedules.
Sharing between these two schools is also how we have a cross country team that continually excels each season at the state level.
Lisbon isn’t the only district allowing the middle school girls’ wrestling program, either, with Mount Vernon and neighboring Solon starting programs this year as well.
These programs only grow when the opportunities are present in earlier grades, much like Lisbon and Mount Vernon are offering, and only increase the opportunities for all students to find their niche or interests early. Kudos to both schools for doing the work to grow programs for students.