School districts across Western New York combining sports teams to give students opportunities to play

But just a few miles down the road, the Cheektowaga-Sloan district offers a cross country team for high school and middle school students. 

So, the two athletic departments came together and decided to form a combined Cheektowaga Central and Cheektowaga-Sloan cross country team at the varsity and modified levels to give Cheektowaga Central students the opportunity to run. 

The athletic departments also saw the opportunity to form combined JV and modified girls soccer teams and modified, JV and varsity boys volleyball teams. Cheektowaga Central offered those sports and Cheektowaga-Sloan did not. 

“This is a creative solution for us to create opportunities for student athletes,” JFK High School and Middle School principal Robert Julian said. “We believe in sports, we believe in physical activity for kids. We are expanding our sports programming and we have an excellent opportunity here to partner with our neighboring school district, Cheektowaga Central, to create opportunities for kids to come out and play.”

Pending approval of both districts’ school boards, the combined teams will hit the course, field and court in the fall. 

The Cheektowaga districts are not the only schools in Western New York to merge sports teams. Districts across the region have combined teams in virtually every sport, from football and basketball to swimming, bowling and hockey. 

There’s a variety of reasons schools decide to merge teams, said Mark DiFilippo, the executive director of Section VI Athletics, the organization that governs high school sports in Western New York.

Some have to because of declining enrollment, DiFilippo said. As new sports gain popularity, such as girls flag football, lacrosse and girls wrestling, schools combine to field enough players for a team.  

And, students’ interests have changed over the years, DiFilippo said. Many kids no longer play…