Superior-Alberton sports co-op sees some changes

Superior athletes will once again be called the Bobcats during the upcoming school year.

But a common misconception in the community is that the ongoing high school sports co-op with Alberton has ended. The co-op hasn’t finished, the parameters have simply changed leading to the return of the original Superior High School mascot.

Jessica Nagy, the Superior High School Athletic Director, is also a graduate from Alberton. She can relate to the complex matters surrounding the districts decisions.

“Under MHSA we are still Superior/Alberton in all of our high school sports," Nagy said. "Alberton athletes will come down to Superior to practice and all of our home games will be held in Superior. We have rebranded to be named the Superior Bobcats, but the Superior Bobcats will now include athletes from Alberton as well.”

“Participation numbers were the main reason for this change. We were seeing very small participation numbers from Alberton and it made more sense for our school and kids to keep our activities solely in Superior. At the same time, it was very important to us that the Alberton athletes that wanted to participate still had the option to do so,” shared Nagy.

The co-op started six years ago when both Superior and Alberton weren’t going to be able to field a boys’ basketball team on their own. After the co-op was established, it only involved high school boys’ and girls’ basketball seasons. The following year all of the other sports joined into the co-op.

Alberton also has a co-op with Frenchtown for boys’ cross country and girls’ softball.

Nagy mentioned, “That is an exact replica of the new way our co-op is being run. With Superior’s numbers we would most likely be able to host all of our sports on our own. Alberton however at the time being does need the co-op to continue sports which is why we have continued to extend the invitation to Alberton.”

While the co-op is not ending, just changing, Nagy expressed, “It will be a little sad for me personally that there will not be games in Alberton this year. I grew up playing there as well as watching games for as long as I can remember. Some of my favorite memories are in that gym. While I understand and support the decision made to move all of the games to Superior, it is still sad that numbers have declined enough for this to happen.”

But she added, “At the same time, I know that it is exciting for the community of Superior to have the Superior Bobcats back. We also took advantage of the rebranding to design the new mascot with the input of the students. We were able to put the new mascot on the gym floor and to update the wall pads in the gym as well giving the gym a slight facelift which we are very excited about.”

The biggest reason for forming a co-op between schools is the need for it, numbers wise. MHSA wants all students to have the opportunity to compete in athletics. So, if a school is unable field their own team a co-op will more than likely be considered and created. Ultimately enrollment numbers are the deciding factor.

Nagy stated, “This spring I had to go before MHSA to ask them to allow us to continue to be a Co-Op even though our enrollment numbers between the two schools are over the Class C mark. With the low participation numbers that come from Alberton this was granted.”

Currently there is a Montana high school co-op that was approved on a one-year basis for five schools to come together for six-man football team. In the center of the state, Geyser and Winnett, the two schools that are the farthest apart in the co-op are 115 miles apart.

Having enough players is common problem for both small and larger schools these days.

“Right now, we have many more students working a job after school than in the past and it is hard for all to juggle school, a job, and an extracurricular activity. We would love to see more of our students involved in an extracurricular activity and while some of those took a little bit of a hit with COVID this last year and what we were able to offer and how we were able to offer it, we are hoping to see a little bit of a resurgence this year.”

One positive transition this school year for sporting events is allowing more of the community back to watch these student athletes. Nagy confirmed, “We will not be limiting attendance to games this year. We will be requiring masks at indoor events at this time and we will continue to ask people to social distance while in attendance. We will also continue to offer games on NFHS so that families can watch from anywhere.”

The first home volleyball game for the Superior Bobcats is currently scheduled for Aug. 26 against Seeley. The first home football game is scheduled for Sept. 10 versus Troy.