7/8 Grade Sports
Deer Valley Unified School District (DVUSD) has decided to make changes to our middle school sports. These changes are scheduled to go into effect beginning in the 2022-23 school year.
The fall season will consist of:
There are several reasons why we are making these changes. First, we had a dire shortage of game officials in all three team sport seasons. By making these changes, we will have access to more game officials since they will not be officiating the AIA high school season. Second, our current season schedule puts the long-term development of our sports programs at a disadvantage because our high school coaches have limited time to connect with feeder schools due to the seasons occurring at the same times. Playing in the high school off seasons gives coaches and players at the high school level the opportunity to connect with their middle school counterparts. Third, we sometimes have a large discrepancy in the competitive levels among our middle school teams. In order to bring more competition to some of our more highly competitive middle school teams, we are forming an alliance with two large west side districts - Dysart and Peoria. This will be achieved by allowing for pre-season invitational tournaments and a postseason tournament of champions among our three districts.
Some community members have asked why we are placing our baseball and softball seasons in the fall rather than the winter when the weather will be cooler. We do not believe this is feasible due to the lack of daylight to complete full games. We also know that playing in the summer heat is not new for many of our baseball and softball student-athletes as they play in club leagues throughout the summer. We will monitor the heat index to make sure appropriate decisions are being made. We also know some parents are concerned that the changes might conflict with club sport seasons. The reality is that club sports operate on a year round basis and as such, there is no season that would be “conflict free”. In addition, our coaches are adept at working around club expectations and we would expect them to continue to do so.
We are very interested in feedback as we work to address some of our pressing needs when it comes to game officials and connecting our middle school programs to our high schools. The athletic coordinators at each of our K-8 and middle schools will send a satisfaction survey to the families of our middle school student-athletes at the end of each sports season to gauge how effectively we are meeting our goals.
We appreciate your patience and input as we work to make our middle school sports experience the best it can be.
Kind Regards,
Scott Warner
Director of School Operations and Athletics
[email protected]
The fall season will consist of:
- Baseball
- Softball
- Boys and Girls Volleyball
- Cross Country
- Wrestling
- Boys and Girls Basketball
- Spiritline
- Track and Field
There are several reasons why we are making these changes. First, we had a dire shortage of game officials in all three team sport seasons. By making these changes, we will have access to more game officials since they will not be officiating the AIA high school season. Second, our current season schedule puts the long-term development of our sports programs at a disadvantage because our high school coaches have limited time to connect with feeder schools due to the seasons occurring at the same times. Playing in the high school off seasons gives coaches and players at the high school level the opportunity to connect with their middle school counterparts. Third, we sometimes have a large discrepancy in the competitive levels among our middle school teams. In order to bring more competition to some of our more highly competitive middle school teams, we are forming an alliance with two large west side districts - Dysart and Peoria. This will be achieved by allowing for pre-season invitational tournaments and a postseason tournament of champions among our three districts.
Some community members have asked why we are placing our baseball and softball seasons in the fall rather than the winter when the weather will be cooler. We do not believe this is feasible due to the lack of daylight to complete full games. We also know that playing in the summer heat is not new for many of our baseball and softball student-athletes as they play in club leagues throughout the summer. We will monitor the heat index to make sure appropriate decisions are being made. We also know some parents are concerned that the changes might conflict with club sport seasons. The reality is that club sports operate on a year round basis and as such, there is no season that would be “conflict free”. In addition, our coaches are adept at working around club expectations and we would expect them to continue to do so.
We are very interested in feedback as we work to address some of our pressing needs when it comes to game officials and connecting our middle school programs to our high schools. The athletic coordinators at each of our K-8 and middle schools will send a satisfaction survey to the families of our middle school student-athletes at the end of each sports season to gauge how effectively we are meeting our goals.
We appreciate your patience and input as we work to make our middle school sports experience the best it can be.
Kind Regards,
Scott Warner
Director of School Operations and Athletics
[email protected]