Declining participation threatens the CGS women's basketball team
By Olivia Morrison ‘24
2023 girl’s basketball game starting tip-off, image courtesy of Olivia Morrison
Nationally, the viewership and popularity of women’s basketball are on the rise. In 2023, the viewership of the NCAA women's basketball final was up 103%, and the audience of the WNBA draft increased by 42%. However, this is not the case for girl’s basketball at Catlin Gabel School (CGS).
This year, CGS only has one girl’s varsity basketball team. The option to play junior varsity (JV) was not possible due to the lack of players, as the team has currently dropped from eleven to nine players due to injuries.
According to Kate Williams, Director of Athletics and Head Coach of the girls varsity basketball team for the past nine seasons, CGS having one girl’s team isn’t unheard of. “It has fluctuated. Early on, there were a couple of years we did not have a JV team as well, but recently I would say the participation numbers after COVID have been much lower,” Williams said.
Senior Claire Druker also mentioned that lack of participation is a growing issue for the sport, and mentioned that a couple of years ago it didn’t seem to be a problem. “There were two full teams and they didn’t seem to have an issue of having subs and they had more than enough people to play on both teams,” she stated.
Since the COVID lockdown, getting enough people for two girls' basketball teams has been a struggle. The past few years, there have been both varsity and junior varsity teams, however, they have needed more players to fill the bench.
“In my experience with the girl's basketball team, even when we had enough for two teams, it was not enough for both teams to have enough subs,” Druker stated. “Last year, when we had a JV team, there were about six or seven girls.”
Sophomore Maddie Snyder commented, “I had to play soccer to get someone to play basketball,” and expressed worry about having a team for next season. “Am I going to go play for Lincoln?” she asked.
But, this trend is not exclusive to CGS. Williams explained that in CGS’s 3A Lewis and Clark League, in which seven schools (including CGS) participate, five do not field a JV girl’s basketball team. Furthermore, two years ago Horizon Christian High School did not have a girl’s basketball program, and Portland Adventist Academy hasn’t fielded a JV team in two years.
So why has decreased participation in girl’s basketball become such an issue? Is it due to a general decrease in participation, similar to the decline CGS has seen with clubs?
Both Druker and Snyder cited the time and physical commitment needed to play basketball as a possible deterrent.
“It's a very physically demanding sport, we’ve seen a ton of people at Catlin become injured from playing the sport so I don’t know if everyone is as willing to put their bodies on the line for a high school sport,” said Druker.
Snyder also compared the time commitment to other sports, stating that at times the basketball practices are less convenient than the soccer ones due to the lack of court space. Sophomore Ella Bulkley also commented, “For multi-sport athletes [the time commitment] can be pretty hard to do especially with Catlin being such a work-heavy school.”
Williams also attributed the overall youth sports culture in the United States as a possible cause, saying that it continues to emphasize specializing in one sport early on, not leaving room for participating in secondary sports.
Having only one team for girls to play basketball on brings challenges for the season. With injuries, the team has sometimes had to play with five players (the number of players needed on the court), and people who are new to the sport or can’t give the commitment needed for a varsity team don’t have many options.
“Ideally your JV is building and growing to be a funnel to your varsity program and we don't have that,” said Williams. She continued, “Such a wide spectrum of skill levels with one team can make it more challenging.”
Even with the team’s challenges this year, Druker stated that she has grown to love the sport because it is fast-paced and exciting. “I first joined girls' basketball because I like the team aspect of it. I like to play with my friends but I also have come to enjoy the sport over the years. It’s one of my favorite sports to play and watch,” she said.
Williams advocated for the basketball program, saying that being a multi-sport athlete can be very helpful when preparing and conditioning for other sports seasons. “The injury risk is lower, the risk of burnout is lower, and I think that most sports complement one another,” she stated.
Druker advocated for people to join the girl’s basketball team. “It would be very nice if we had more people playing,” she said. “Having an extra person there who can sub in for 30 seconds to a minute, that's all we really need!”
Druker also stated that the basketball team was a great way to spend time with friends. Snyder added that although basketball can take a lot of practice and physicality, she still enjoys playing because “you can really see improvement in basketball based on your points and how you’re performing…it's definitely really challenging but really rewarding at the same time.”
Without an increase in girls’ basketball participation, returning players like Snyder won’t be able to continue to challenge themselves and grow as a team. So if you want to spend time with your friends, condition yourself for other sports, or just need to get those last-minute physical education credits, girl’s basketball may be the right fit for you!