Two of those programs were boys' and girls' track and field, which joined swimming and diving, wrestling, ice hockey, and cross country in forming co-ops. The situation has worked especially well in track and field, as the Bagley-Fosston girls' squad raised the Minnesota State High School League Class A championship trophy last spring. To Head Boys' and Girls' Coach Doug Carlson, the move to a combined team was an easy choice.

"Each school had an athlete or two who would do pretty well individually, but there was nothing happening team-wise because neither school had enough numbers to compete," he says. "By pairing up, we were able to give kids at both schools the opportunity to continue doing something they were passionate about."

When Carlson arrived on the Bagley campus over 30 years ago, the senior class graduated upwards of 125 students. Last year, only 70 students received diplomas, and Fosston has seen an even more severe decline. "We haven't lost numbers fast, but little by little," Carlson says. "This is happening nationwide. We're seeing more and more co-ops--some with more than two schools--as a result."

While a co-op was a natural fit, setting it up meant rethinking practices, deciding on team logos and colors, and building team unity in a different way. "It's a lot of work to get the practice and meet schedules coordinated," Carlson says. "As head coach, I take care of the organizational duties and my assistant coaches concentrate on their specialties."

Both Bagley and Fosston have track and field facilities on their campuses, so Carlson splits the week evenly between them. A typical week during the season includes one practice at Bagley, one at Fosston, one or two split practices with athletes staying on their own campuses, and one or two competition days. Carlson has three assistant coaches at each campus who can lead practices, which helps a lot.

"It's a 20-minute bus ride between our schools, so any time we can reduce travel for athletes, that's a good thing," Carlson says. "I have had kids leave the team because of all the travel time. Unfortunately, there's not too much I can do about it other than have split practices once or twice a week."

When a meet is held west of the schools, a Bagley bus picks the Fosston athletes up on the way, and when a meet is east of the schools, Fosston picks up the Bagley athletes. It tends to work out that each school is responsible for picking up the other half of the team about half of the time.

Carlson said the biggest challenge, however, is creating team unity between the two schools' athletes. He emphasizes the team concept in many ways, starting with a meet-and-greet at the beginning of each season where the athletes can reconnect. He also put great thought into the team name and uniforms.

"We only go by Bagley-Fosston Track," he says. "We don't have a logo or a nickname on any of our T-shirts or uniforms. When we order uniforms, I incorporate both schools' colors. Fortunately, we both use maroon, so I just make sure there is also some gold for Bagley and gray for Fosston.

"The other tough part is overcoming any sense of rivalry, because in our sports that aren't co-ops, Bagley and Fosston are very competitive with each other," Carlson continues. "I have kids who also play football or basketball, so I have to get them to come together with the other school's athletes for our season. I have kids from opposite schools work together during drills whenever possible, and I think that dynamic helps them push each other a little bit harder."

Carlson says that while there are some initial challenges to overcome when a co-op is formed, there are some great benefits, too. "Aside from the obvious plus of allowing both schools to continue competing, the co-op has really helped us compete with other schools in the state," Carlson says. "Before the co-op, we may have had three Bagley girls who were strong relay runners, but we needed that fourth runner from Fosston to win. It makes everyone feel like they belong.

"It's been a lot of fun, too," he continues. "Some of the kids have gotten to be pretty good friends. They'll ask each other to their school dances or family get-togethers and parties. It's great to see all the kids being friends and working hard together. We're just as much of a team as anyone else."

Abigail Funk is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management.

FEEDBACK

This article is much like our lacrosse program in New Haven, CT.
Because lacrosse is such a new sport to many inner city kids we have
chosen to run our program as a co-op involving 3 New Haven high
schools. We have also made the sport available to the students from the
magnet schools in New Haven that do not offer interscholastic sports
teams. It has worked out very well for our players. We have a great mix
of suburb kids that have already played lacrosse in the surrounding
youth programs to compliment our city kids that are trying the sport for
the very first time. A lot of the players with previous experience
actually work through drills with the newer players to help raise our
lacrosse knowledge as a team a lot quicker than if just me or my "one"
assistant coach can do by ourselves. Great article.

- Alex J Trasacco