Baltimore City Public Schools will be offering seven sports programs for middle schoolers this year – a first for the school district.
On Monday afternoon, over 250 children from 12 different school teams ran and walked the 1.5-mile course at Druid Hill Park in the city’s first cross country meet of the fall season.
City schools CEO Sonja Santelises and Mayor Brandon Scott joined parents and family members on the sidelines to cheer.
The race marked the first competition of many for middle schoolers under a new centralized district program, which had been piloted with 1,500 students last year. Santelises said the new system is designed for everyone – especially girls and students with disabilities – to access the benefits of sports early-on.
“We know that athletics doesn't just begin when young people walk in the door in high school, the interest is built much earlier than that,” Santelises said before the race. “We also know that early adolescence is a peak period of brain development. And so what better way to stretch that brain than to try new sports.”
Mayor Scott ran track as a preteen through an independent league. But he said an interscholastic program is a “big win” for students.
“And not just for the honing of their athletic skills,” he said. “You're building their character. You’re building their ability to work together, their ability to see themselves pushed to the limits and achieve their highest heights.”
Middle schoolers will have access to flag football and cross country in the first quarter of the school year, indoor bocce and volleyball in the second, basketball in the third and track and outdoor bocce in the final months of the school year.
Sharon Casey-Bost said she’s already seeing the growth in her granddaughter, who competed in Monday’s cross country race for Harlem Park middle school.
“We are so excited because it’s good for their self-esteem, their motivation, as well as good for their physical fitness,” she said.
At an August meeting, city council members raised concerns about transportation to and from competition.
But at Monday’s race, Coordinator of Athletics Tonisha Montgomery said bus companies Woodlawn Motor Coach and Blue Heron have agreed to cover all transportation needs for the cross country and flag football season.
“So all of those teams who wanted the opportunity to participate, the transportation barrier has been removed for them,” she said.
The district is currently looking for independent contractors to direct their own sports program through city schools, as the first flag football competition begins on Thursday.
