Keeping Pace

The main goal, no matter what, is what is best for the students.Fairbury will be moving to eight-man football next year after being in 11-man forever.Coach Johnson explained at a recent Rotary meeting that numbers were dipping and doing what is best for the students and the overall health of the program warrants the move.I was living out west when a historically great football dynasty took a similar path. Some in the community felt it was a cheap way out, the only true championship was an 11-man championship. A big fish in a little pond mentality was selling short the heritage and tradition of the program.Others felt this was much better because the community would have a chance to win another title, to heck with the size of the crown, a title is a title. I asked some of the football players about the heritage, prestige and honor of the program. They just wanted to play football. Some of them only played because they didn’t want to disappoint their dad or grandfather.If kids aren’t going out for football locally anymore and this warrants FHS to move to eight-man, then so be it. If the kids want more playing time, or just playing time in general, do right by the players, not the heritage and tradition of the program.I think a lot of people, parents, community members and players, are in agreement that this is what is best for the program at this time. It has become a trend among some schools across the state, not just Fairbury. Some kids just are not interested in sports. There has been a rise in things like eSports in some schools, while other activities, like music, art, speech and debate, are also waning in interest from students all over the country.Interests change for different generations. As far as football, these are the kids going out there every week and putting their bodies on the line. They will get a lot of life lessons out of the process, the biggest should be having their voices heard. Good luck next season.

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Elizabeth Nimmich

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