Kendall and Holley may have combined varsity baseball team this year
Kendall doesn’t have enough players to field own team
KENDALL – The Kendall Board of Education is considering allowing Kendall boys to try out for the Holley varsity baseball team.
The Kendall district does not have enough interested students to field a varsity baseball team this spring and board members gave an unofficial “nod” to pursue an agreement with Holley Central School.
“I’m not opposed to giving seniors the opportunity to try out at Holley,” Board President Nadine Hanlon said on Wednesday evening. Board members Chaley Swift and Vice-President Christopher Gerken also said they were “OK” with giving it a try.
Holley is willing to take on varsity players from Kendall, and Hanlon said she has had a phone call from the parents of one student at Kendall who would like the opportunity to play baseball during his senior year.
Superintendent Julie Christensen said the district would need to cover the cost of transporting players to Holley for practices and games. Parents would then pick up students following practices and games.
“The team would be known as the Holley-Kendall Hawks,” Christensen said.
She noted try-outs are scheduled for March 7 and that the Holley varsity baseball coach would have final say on who makes the team. The agreement would be on a year-by-year basis.
The opportunity would be open only to Kendall seniors and juniors who are not eligible to play JV baseball, board members decided.
Christensen said Holley would be able to field a varsity baseball team without Kendall players.
Chaley Swift noted that the district should prepare itself to make similar decisions regarding sports teams in the future or risk losing teams. “What sports are we going to put on the chopping block if we don’t (enter into agreements with other districts)?” she asked.
Kendall has been reluctant to allow students to try out for football at Holley. Hanlon said that is partly because the district needs to maintain its soccer program in the fall and football would cut into that, and partly because there is a substantial cost related to football.
