Team experience priceless

The Spokane School Board will decide to keep or cut all middle school extracurricular athletics on June 22. From 24 years of experience, I know that middle school is when kids need the opportunity to try new things. More than anything, they want to belong to a group: a team. Middle school provides a safe educational environment for kids to belong.

For more than 80 percent of kids who are involved in after-school sports, it is their first experience being on an organized team. This spring we had 180 students out for track and enough for three baseball teams.

Most kids will not turn out for a sport in high school unless they have already played in elementary or middle school.

We can’t let money be the deciding factor in the opportunity to wear a team uniform. Equality for students, regardless of economic status, is at stake.

Middle school coaches believe that if we provide a positive experience for our athletes, we are coaching two generations because they will encourage their children to be involved in sport.

Lorri Slauson

Spokane