Save local rivalriesin high school sports

There are seven high schools in the local area ranging in size from 1,000 students to 1,800 students. Students from these three schools compete with and against each other from elementary through junior high school. This creates a lot of friendly rivals and interest with the parents of fans of Tumwater, Olympia and Lacey.

Unfortunately in high school, these seven teams are separated into four different leagues and three different classifications. Instead of playing good local competition, schools are traveling to Tacoma and beyond in the middle of the week to play schools the casual fan has little interest in following.

Can't our high school athletic directors come together and create a 2A/3A league that would include Timberline, North Thurston, Tumwater, Capital, Yelm, Shelton and Olympia in the 3A division and Black Hills, River Ridge, Centralia, Chehalis, Rochester and Aberdeen in the 2A?

It sounds like it might be too late again for this to occur, which is too bad for the schools and the fans. New plans call for North Thurston and Timberline to join the SPSL which would include schools all the way up in Bonney Lake and further North. How does this make sound financial sense? The local league brings more people into our schools and keeps travel costs low. If you want to save high school sports, keep it local and keep it interesting.

This story was originally published January 29, 2016 at 8:43 AM with the headline "Save local rivalriesin high school sports."