This week, Oberlin High School announced it was canceling the football season this year due to a lack of players.
“It hurts, it hurts a lot. It’s a lot of emotions,” said Oberlin City Schools athletic director, Julian Acosta-Gorman. “There’s so many good things that go on our Friday nights and so many pieces that it touches. We have great cheerleaders here. And all of that environment and spirit is not going to be available to us this year.”
A letter sent out to the district said the program has tried to recruit players, but participation remains below average.
Last Thursday, 12 athletes attended practice. That number dwindled to five on Friday.
Mandatory camp began on Monday, and only eight players showed up.
The district said it is concerned that players will face an unfair physical burden and be at increased risk of injury.
"This is not a decision anyone wanted to make. We recognize that football is an important tradition in Oberlin and that this situation affects not only our football players, but also our cheerleaders, marching band members, families, alumni and the many community members who make Friday nights special. We share in the disappointment felt throughout our school community," the district said.
Although the district said enrollment has increased slightly, that has not been the case with the football program.
“Our main thing is the amount of kids we have are being split between multiple sports. We had 97 boys in our school last year. We need 25-30% of those kids to want to play football,” said Acosta-Gorman.
The district is seeking other schools that may allow Oberlin's players to join their teams.
According to the district, the marching band season will not be impacted by this decision, and it will find other ways for the students to perform.
“It was definitely unfortunate. I was really looking forward to coming here and bringing the marching band to the football games that I grew up doing,” said Matt Gerhardinger, who is beginning his first year as the district's band director.
He said other schools have offered their support after learning the marching band wouldn't be able to perform for their home team.
“There are a couple other marching bands who invited us to attend their games, so we’d have a three-marching-band game,” he said.
The district is also working with the cheerleaders to find alternative sports for the team to cheer at.
Acosta-Gorman said new state rules allow public school students to play sports at other schools if their sport is not available. He said other schools have been quick to offer space for interested athletes.
“We got feedback in less than 15 minutes of an email going out of folks wanting to support us,” he said.
He said he hopes more outreach and youth football opportunities will renew interest in the sport in Oberlin.
“We want to turn that frustration into conversation that can be productive for our kids because that’s what it’s about,” he said.
