By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette
The Panorama boys soccer season is officially cancelled with the school citing low participation numbers. The boys were scheduled to begin their season on Friday, April 3, against West Central Valley.
“After careful consideration and conversations between administration and coaches, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the boys’ soccer season this year due to low participation numbers. Despite our efforts to encourage involvement and build a roster, we did not have enough student-athletes to safely and effectively field a team.
“Our coaches did an outstanding job recruiting and encouraging students to participate in the program. We genuinely appreciate their time, energy and commitment. We are committed to continuing to promote soccer and will explore opportunities to rebuild excitement, interest, and participation for future seasons,” Panorama said in a statement.
Ahead of our Spring Sports Guide, we interviewed the Panorama boys soccer coach, Matt Fronapfel, who told us he was directed to get 15 players on the roster in order to field a team this season, but potentially did not have 15 “primary” players. We reached out to Panorama Activities Director Bruce Dahlhauser for further clarification. He said his response is also the district’s words, not just his own.
“We’ve actually always asked our dual-sport athletes to indicate a ‘primary’ or priority sport. It’s a useful communication tool that a lot of schools utilize. In a school like ours, where kids are involved in a lot of things during the spring season, it’s the only way to help coaches coordinate schedules and avoid putting the student in the middle of a conflict when two events fall on the same night,” Dahlhauser said.
“The benchmark of 15 was set to maintain a safe and competitive program throughout a season. There always needs to be a ‘buffer’ of players who are available for every practice and match. After reviewing the final numbers, we found that fewer than 15 athletes committed to the program, so we collectively decided that we truly didn’t have enough athletes to hold a season.”
When asked if players who were still interested in competing in spring soccer could co-op with another school, Dahlhauser offered the following:
“We are currently exploring our options. If we have players that would be interested in that, we will certainly do what we can to try and make it happen,” Dahlhauser said.
Dahlhauser added that their focus is now on supporting the students and looking at how they can build a more sustainable foundation for the program in the future.