Medford To Introduce Middle School Sports This School Year

MEDFORD, MA — Medford is introducing middle school travel sports this upcoming school year as part of a initiative aimed at creating a stronger bond between the high school varsity and youth levels, and convincing more of the city's students to the attend the public high school. The $75,000 trial program will field teams in five sports over the fall, winter and spring seasons that will compete against schools in the reconfigured Greater Boston League.

"It was always on the AD's wish list to have middle school programs," Medford Athletic Director Bob Maloney said. "It's attractive to parents and a good way to build your high school programs. We're excited about the first year of it starting in the fall."

Maloney is in the process of hiring coaches for baseball, softball and boys and girls cross country teams in the fall, boys and girls basketball in the winter, and boys and girls outdoor track in the spring. Maloney said the $75,000 will go toward coaches, uniforms, officials and transportation costs, and will allow students to join the teams without having to pay a user fee.

"The benefit of doing this without a user fee is that we can really attack it and get as many kids as possible to participate," Maloney said.

The most recent push for middle school sports came when Medford was looking to compete with fellow teams in the Northeastern Conference when it came to youth skill development and student retention. When Medford was voted out of the NEC this past school year, and reached an agreement to return to the GBL, Maloney said the proposal was presented to fellow GBL schools — Everett, Malden, Revere and Somerville — was embraced, and then funded with the help of the respective mayors, school principals, headmasters and athletic directors.

"It was very smooth," Maloney said. "There has been great individual and community support. Everyone is very happy about this."

A trend among suburban communities in Greater Boston in recent years has been toward middle school-affiliated travels teams in many sports, and away from disparate youth leagues that can follow their own rules and training methods. The hope is doing so in Medford will fuel interest in younger athletes wanting to play for the Mustangs when they get to high school, and being more readily able to contribute at the next level.

"This allows high school coaches to build relationships across an entire program that goes beyond a varsity team," Maloney said. "The upperclassmen can go down and work with the middle school kids and develop connections. Then, hopefully, that will make the middle school kids want to choose Medford High School instead of going off to a Catholic high school. We’re not going to get 100 percent, but we want every kid who goes to eighth grade in Medford to come through the doors of Medford High School the next year."

Maloney said this is not an attempt to conflict with successful youth leagues in the city – such as soccer – but one designed to provide more opportunities to learn and play sports within a school structure.

"One of the good things about a middle school program is that it is right after school so it doesn't interfere with any of the other youth leagues that are usually at night," he said. "They can go to a 3 o'clock practice, or 4 o'clock game, and still be done in time to do something with the youth leagues at 6."

Maloney said he is happy that Medford's fellow schools in what remains of the GBL – which the Mustangs competed in for more than 30 years before following Arlington, Cambridge and Waltham out of the league for two years in the NEC – embraced middle school sports as a building block for the future of all of the league's athletic programs.

"We swallowed it quickly," Maloney said of being jettisoned from the NEC. "Now we're happy to be back in the GBL. The GBL is a league with great tradition and great history. We're looking forward to seeing the GBL continue to grow, along with our fellow schools in the league."