Highlands School is looking at bringing baseball back, initially offering baseball as a middle school sport to grow seeds for a program at Highlands.
Thanks to interest from community members and Highlands School parents, the school will host a family fun night and baseball interest night Friday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the town fields beside the community center. The night will gauge interest and baseball skills while also getting families involved.
Brett Lamb, athletic director and head varsity girls basketball coach, said it has been about 15 years since baseball was offered at the middle school level and nearly 10 years since it was offered as a high school sport.
When middle school baseball was offered 15 years ago, Lamb said the sport was also open to girls since the school didn’t field softball.
Naturally, it can be difficult offering a new sport, whether it is bringing a sport back or offering a new sport for the first time.
“The biggest thing is player interest and sustainability. If we’re going to offer it, I would like to be able to keep it going,” Lamb said.
First, there needs to be sufficient interest in the sport from prospective players. Lamb said the sixth grade currently houses one of the largest classes of boys who might be interested. Some of these boys might play with a little league or youth rec league, like the Franklin rec league. However, some of the players may not have touched baseball since tee ball, if at all. Lamb said if baseball doesn’t pan out for the spring, the sixth graders may do a rec league to prepare for a hopeful middle school team in the future.
Following players, coaches, facilities to practice and play at, and equipment are needed. Lamb said this process can be the expensive part. A dozen baseballs usually costs over $100, and that isn’t counting uniforms, bats, helmets, and other gear. If baseball moves forward, practices and games are planned to be held at the town field.
“Once we get it off the ground, the Booster Club will help, the athletic department can help financially some,” Lamb said. “We have a great community and we have great parents, so I don’t think that would be a problem.”
Then there is the issue of scheduling games. Lamb said middle schools in North Carolina are capped at 14 games per season, so it can be difficult to squeeze in matches against other teams that may already have a full, or filling, schedule. Lamb has put out feelers to other schools about interest in playing Highlands. Lamb said he would personally be fine with baseball being offered even under a modified or smaller schedule during its infancy.
Lamb understands offering a new sport or reviving a previous sport can also lead to questions about other sports. He said there has been some interest in other sports like boys’ volleyball and perhaps even flag football, a growing sport across the U.S. that can be less stressful on the body than tackle football. Any additional sports are still to be determined.