Garrison-Velva football co-op in the works
Garrison, Velva school boards approve
By JAMES C. FALCON
editors@bhgnews.com
A football co-op between the Garrison and Velva schools is in the works for the upcoming school year.
The Garrison school board voted unanimously last Wednesday to approve the co-op to allow Garrison students the chance to play football with their Velva contemporaries. Early Tuesday morning, the Velva school board met and voted in a a similar manner.
The need for the co-op stems from the fact that Garrison is without junior varsity or varsity football coaches, despite advertising the post since December of last year, explained Dr. Nick Klemisch, superintendent of schools for Garrison. He also noted that the number of students needed to flesh out a football team is not enough. However, there are a number of students who want to play.
Originally, Garrison had approached the Turtle Lake and Underwood schools, who had started their own sports co-op last year, but they didn’t “want to go down that road,” Dr. Klemisch said. He then approached Velva, with whom Garrison has an existing co-op for wrestling. “I said, ‘I’m just looking for an opportunity for our kids to play.’”
While there are hardship, such as the 50-mile commute to Velva from Garrison, Dr. Klemisch said that with a co-op, “those kids who truly want to play will get an opportunity to play.”
“I will be the first to say that I didn’t think football would be the first sport that we’d have this kind of struggle (with),” Dr. Klemisch said. “Football has probably been our biggest struggle, sports-wise.”
