By Staff
Athletic Management, 16.5, August/September 2004, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/am/am1605/wumainedismounts.htm
Is it sensible for a state governing body to sanction a sport in which only six high schools have teams? Members of the Maine Principals’ Association (MPA) didn’t think so, as they voted 35-4 at this spring’s annual conference to eliminate girls’ gymnastics as a sponsored activity in their state.
High school girls’ gymnastics in Maine has been on shaky ground for the past several years, as declining student interest led fewer and fewer schools to maintain their teams. Four years ago, 10 high schools offered the sport, before two dropped it in 2002. Two more schools did the same last year.
“In the end, we realized that six schools competing in a sport did not justify a state championship,” says MPA Executive Director Dick Durost. “I think most people recognized that it was time, and even if they didn’t like the decision, they understood why it was made.”
For Maine’s young gymnasts, the chance to participate in their sport still exists with private club teams, whose popularity may have contributed to the decline of the school-sponsored squads. “To develop gymnastics skills, you need to train year-round,” says Carol Evans, Head Coach of the Skowhegan Area High School team that became Maine’s last state champion by winning the 2004 title. “A lot of kids who are serious about gymnastics choose private training over the school teams, because with the high school season, they wouldn’t be active for much of the year.”
Nationwide, high school gymnastics participation has remained constant since the late 1990s, following almost two decades of steady decline. After an all-time high of 84,000 female gymnasts at more than 3,600 schools in 1978-79, participation fell throughout the 1980s and early 90s before settling around its current level. Last year, just over 21,000 girls competed in gymnastics at 1,600 high schools across the country. Boys’ gymnastics, which the MPA stopped sponsoring in 1973, continues to decline nationwide, with 2,200 gymnasts competing at 140 high schools last year.