Danville schools enter into phase two of middle school athletics addition plan

Drew Wilson
Published: May 16, 2008

Three years ago, the Danville Public Schools created middle school basketball and track programs for boys and girls. It will add three more sports — cross country, swimming and soccer — during the 2008-09 school year. The Danville School Board recently approved the second phase of the school system’s plan to increase the number of middle school athletic programs.

“We’re real excited about that,” said Reid Taylor, George Washington High School’s director of athletics. “The school board approved that, which we really appreciate.”

Taylor helped spearhead the campaign to implement middle school athletics at Bonner, Gibson and Westwood in 2005. At the time, Danville Public Schools Superintendent Sue Davis said that the school system had been looking for ways to engage children positively in the afternoon after school.

“In athletics, students learn self-discipline and they learn motivation,” Davis told the Register & Bee in an April 2005 article.

Although Taylor couldn’t cite a specific study, he said that research he’s read shows students who participate in sports and other extra curricular activities tend to perform better academically and also stay out of trouble.

“The basic thinking is the same as it was three years ago,” Taylor said. “Statistics have shown that young people — whether it’s middle school or high school — that are involved in extra curricular activities basically do better in school.”

Taylor also believes the addition of the middle school cross country, swimming and soccer programs will help the junior varsity and varsity programs down the road.

“Any time you have a feeder program in the middle school that will be filtering into the high school, it’s going to be a plus for your athletic teams,” Taylor said.

“Even if the student doesn’t ever play sports at GW, hopefully we’ve provided him with a good, well-rounded atmosphere in the middle school,” Taylor added.