MILWAUKEE — It’s a trend not just Wisconsin, but the entire country is seeing – the decline of “America’s Game.”
According to Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association spokesperson Todd Clark, the state saw a drop in high school football participation from 2012 to 2018. Those numbers have since stayed steady but have not grown in size either.
Big Foot High School, which won the District 4 State title in 2009, has witnessed firsthand the decrease in interest.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the program shared they only have 18 varsity players on their roster, but only 10 are available to play due to injuries. As a result, Big Foot forfeited its next two games (9/22 and 9/26) and will make a decision next week regarding the rest of the 2023 season.
"Certainly there's a lot of things for kids to do today," WIAA's director of communications Todd Clark explained. "There are other interests involved, other activities within the school… It's also important to note that I think in a lot of school districts enrollments are down as well.”
Big Foot isn't alone in their decision to forfeit this week.
After Waukesha South canceled the remainder of its 2022 season last October due to overwhelming injuries, the same problem has resurfaced forcing the Blackshirts to forfeit Friday's game against Muskego.
The program released this statement on Tuesday:
Following last football season, we entered this season aware of the challenges in front of us. At the beginning of the season, despite our small numbers, players, parents, and coaches set the goal of playing a complete season. As we have progressed through the season, we enter a week where we have several injuries that will prevent us from fielding a varsity team. Because of this development, we will need to forfeit Friday’s game against Muskego.
We are working with our staff and student athletes to resume and complete the 2023 season. That being said, we have several factors to consider as we manage the well being of our student athletes and health of our program.
Our ultimate goal is to get players healthy and continue to prepare for the remainder of our season.
Waukesha South head coach Darnell Wiltz declined to comment on the situation.
Following last fall's mid-season cancellation, Wiltz published a guest opinion piece to The Freeman asking the WIAA to remove the Blackshirts from the Classic 8 conference.
He said the program doesn’t fit the conference "demographically nor socioeconomically," and that they are reminded of that every time they take the field.
“As it stands now every two years schools have the opportunity to put in for conference realignment and state their case as to why they want to move conferences," Clark explained. "Typically conferences, the important pieces of conference realignment is enrollment and geography.”
According to Clark, football realignment happens every two years within the WIAA. The most recent realignment was approved by the Board of Control in April 2023.
While elevating JV players is an option for varsity programs that are struggling with numbers, Big Foot District Administrator Doug Parker disagrees with that solution.
“No true educator would ever put a kid in harm's way, "Parker stated. "Taking a five-foot, 110-pound freshman and putting them out on a varsity field just so the other team has a game is not what educational-based athletics is about.”
Parker believes the WIAA is doing everything in its power to help struggling programs with the addition of 8-Man football and the ability for schools to merge as co-ops.
“We have a great coaching staff who are doing all the right things," Doug reiterated." (They're) trying to build the program back up, and I think we'll get there soon.”
Big Foot is hoping they’ll be able to finish their varsity season, but the program is expected to have a final decision sometime next week.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
