Girls' participation survey results

SourceMedia Group sent out requests from each area school, asking for a head count of girls' basketball players, trends and comments. Here's what we heard back:

ALBURNETT: 17 girls out.

ANAMOSA: 21 girls out. "It's not good," said AD Derek Roberts. "In my nine years of being a AD I see small and smaller numbers in lots of athletic areas."

BENTON COMMUNITY: 38 girls out, "which is pretty normal for us," said AD Kal Goodchild.

BGM: 18 girls out.

CASCADE: 25 girls out.

CEDAR RAPIDS JEFFERSON: 35 girls out, including no seniors. "Last year (27) was easily the worst year ever. We had a little bounce back this year within a reasonable range of where we used to be in the previous 10 years," said AD Scott Kibby.

CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY: 55 girls out, the most of any area schools.

CEDAR RAPIDS PRAIRIE: 35 girls out. Program has been in the 30s and 40s through the past decade.

CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON: 46 girls out.

CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER: 34 girls out.

CENTER POINT-URBANA: 23 girls out. "We have a small ninth-grade class this year, which is reflected in those numbers.  However, our numbers have been in a steady decline for several years now," said AD Dan Rosendahl.

CENTRAL CITY: 15 girls out.

CLAYTON RIDGE: 19 girls out. "I foresee this number going up," said AD Kris Einck.

CLEAR CREEK-AMANA: 24 girls out.

DECORAH: 39 girls out. "I will say that lots of social issues are created during the winter months due to the fact that this is the only sport offered for girls during the winter months (we don't have bowling) and the fact that of all of the girls sports it leans itself to the least playing opportunities to play just due to the nature of the sport," said AD Adam Riley.

DYERSVILLE BECKMAN: 25 girls out. "Our numbers continue to drop," said AD Todd Troutman. "We have only six freshmen. Our junior high numbers are poor as well; we had eight out for eighth-grade basketball and 13 out for seventh-grade basketball and really had to work hard to get those numbers."

EAST BUCHANAN: 16 girls out. "We seem to drop a bit each year," said AD Pat Schloss.

EDGEWOOD-COLESBURG: 26 girls out. "Our numbers are up this year.  Our lowest was 14 in 2008-09.  We only have 13 total out in junior high, so our numbers will go down in the future," said AD/Coach Roger Wright.

ENGLISH VALLEYS: 14 girls out. "It is pretty cyclical in the small schools, or at least with ours it has," said AD Al Ling. "We have had as many out as probably 25 and hit our low last year with nine."

HIGHLAND: 23 girls out. "We have kept pretty steady," said Coach Jody Fink.

IOWA CITY HIGH: 41 girls out.

IOWA CITY WEST: About 40 girls out, according to Coach B.J. Mayer. "It is actually about what we have been," he said. We have a large senior class (nine) and a small junior class (two)."

IOWA MENNONITE: 21 girls out. "This number is a little higher than the last several years," said AD Dwight Gingerich. "We have had to have some kids play JV and varsity to make it work in lean years."

JESUP: 18 girls out.

KEOTA: 22 girls out. "We run a JV schedule but several teams in our conference (SICL) are not able to field JV teams so our kids only get 8-9 JV games a season which is really hurting the development of younger girls," said Coach Jenny Hobbs. "With class sizes so different the numbers out vary greatly. It's hard to keep the magic number of 20 out. We just make do with what we have. When there are only 18 kids in a class and only 5 of them are girls, chances are they all don't play basketball. Tough reality."

LANSING KEE: 17 girls out. "We are hoping to see a rise in the future with good numbers in our youth and junior high programs," said AD Josh Bentley.

LINN-MAR: 36 girls out, down from 52 two years ago.

LISBON: 24 girls out, the most of any area 1A schools that reported.

LONE TREE: 14 girls out, including just two seniors.

MAQUOKETA: 31 girls out. "As an AD and a previous girls basketball coach the lower participation numbers is a big concern and hopefully a trend that turns around," said Tracy Wilkins.

MAQUOKETA VALLEY: 24 girls out.

MARION: 25 girls out. "I think it should go up next year. We have 13 freshmen out for basketball and should have a healthy freshman group coming in next year," said AD Corby Laube.

MFL MARMAC: 19 girls out. "I've always wondered if its due to, or at least partly due to we start these kids playing at such an early age anymore.  If you don't like it when you're young or not involved, you are way behind," said AD/Coach Jason Halverson. "Kids have 101 things to do nowadays."

MIDLAND: 15 girls out. Up four from last year. Eagles are playing a JV schedule this year. Last year, they couldn't.

MID-PRAIRIE: 24 girls out.

MONTEZUMA: 24 girls out.

MOUNT VERNON: 15 girls out, a year after back-to-back trips to the state finals. But the eighth-grade class is big, with numbers in the upper 20s. "We hope to bounce back with great numbers in the junior high," said Coach Bob Kintzel.

NORTH CEDAR: 26 girls out.

NORTH LINN: 19 girls out, including nine freshmen.

NORTH FAYETTE: 26 girls out. Numbers have been steady, according to AD Ron Imoehl.

NORTH TAMA: 20 girls out.

POSTVILLE: 12 girls out. "We've had declining numbers for several years. This year we are playing a half of a JV game and full varsity games. It's not an ideal situation, but it's the best we can do with the numbers we have," said AD Teresa Berg.

SIGOURNEY: 19 girls out.

SOLON: A little more than 20 girls out, according to AD Keith McSweeney. "We only have five ninth-graders out and were forced to cancel the majority of our ninth-grade schedule," he said.

SPRINGVILLE: 12 girls out, the school's lowest participation in some time. "Our coach contacted me this morning about not having enough participants for our fresh-soph game prior to our varsity tonight. We have never had this situation before. We are only a few years removed from a state championship," said AD Kyle Koeppen. "We do have a few middle school grades that are taking the same path that our state championship group took when they were younger. Playing in various leagues and tournaments throughout the year. There are almost more girls playing basketball in sixth grade than the combined high school grades."

STARMONT: 19 girls out.

SOUTH WINNESHIEK: 15 girls out. "It's a quality 15 but still only 15," said AD Bruce Gullickson. "At South Winn obviously we all practice together because we have the low numbers, but we still get all the games in allowed but our freshmen play against 10-graders when we play the big schools (Decorah, Waukon, New Hampton, Crestwood). "It would be interesting to see when the decline started in the state, when we started volleyball? Or possibly when we went to 5-on-5? We have over 30 kids out for volleyball every year."

TIPTON: 17 girls out, "with one foreign exchange student who has never played before," said AD Tom Gruenwald. "The number has slowly decreased each year in my six years here. This is a situation that is only going to continue to get worse in my opinion."

TRI-COUNTY: 11 girls out. "We are playing a full varsity schedule and for JV we are only able to play a half," said AD Jamie Maxwell.

UNION: 20 girls out.

VINTON-SHELLSBURG: 19 girls out.

WAUKON: 28 girls out, including 12 freshmen. Coach Gene Klinge said that 40 seventh-graders are playing.

WASHINGTON: 29 girls out, including 12 freshmen.

WEST CENTRAL: 17 girls out, seven of which are seniors.

WEST DELAWARE: 19 girls out, including just two seniors and two juniors. "We make it work because our conference has three games per night (freshmen/JV/varsity)," said AD Bob Murphy. "The girls can play six quarters so we move them around to help out on each level."

WEST LIBERTY: 30 girls out. "Just a few years ago we had eight total and could not play a JV schedule, only a varsity one. The effects of that are still being felt as our senior class has one girl out," said AD James Laughlin. "Our junior, sophomore and freshmen numbers are good and it looks like our seventh- and eighth-grade numbers are pretty good as well."

WESTERN DUBUQUE: 29 girls out, down from 37 last year.

WILLIAMSBURG: 24 girls out. "That is a few more than we have had the past year or two," said AD Curt Ritchie.