Athletic director reports lower participation, proposes slight fee rise and budget changes; field flooding disrupts home schedule

Zach Stapley, Three Rivers Local School District athletic director, told the Board of Education on April 8 that participation in several sports has declined and recommended a modest rise in participation fees for 2025–26 to help cover higher officials’ and operating costs.

Stapley said high-school participation sits below prior years and singled out track and boys volleyball as areas with notable drops. “We need to find ways to ... bring back the numbers,” he said, summarizing the department’s plan to increase outreach and consider new programming at younger ages.

The presentation included team performance, scholar-athlete grades and postseason honors, and a list of nine students who have already signed to play in college. Stapley said 51% of student-athletes have unweighted GPAs above 3.25 and highlighted county- and state-level qualifiers in bowling and swim and dive.

On budget adjustments, Stapley recommended a “slight increase” in participation fees next year after reviewing officials’ costs and other expenses. He said the proposal reflects roughly a 20% increase in some underlying vendor costs and is intended to keep fees “fair” while covering rising program costs.

Stapley also described a staff proposal to shift payment for game workers away from booster accounts and into stipends or supplementals managed through the district. “We’re gonna try to shift that over to our supplementals,” he said, noting the district now pays about $20,000 annually for game workers and that the change would make the cost more predictable in the general fund. Board members cautioned about adding permanent language to negotiated contracts and discussed alternatives such as one-year supplementals or partnerships with local colleges for interns.

The athletic director presented a plan for updated facility signage — funded in part by a donation from Fuller Ford — to recognize league and district championships and individual records in the gym and at outdoor facilities. He said the project will be phased in over the summer to avoid erasing student photos and to standardize record-keeping.

Flooding at one of the district’s fields is already affecting the spring schedule. Stapley said he has been monitoring field conditions daily and has moved some contests away from home while seeking nearby alternate sites for varsity games. “I heard we could not play there at all this year. I heard it could be a couple weeks,” he said, adding that the priority is to secure at least one home date for seniors’ recognition nights.

Board members and Stapley discussed youth pipelines for sports the district does not sponsor at lower grades — such as bowling and swimming — and strategies to partner with local clubs or TRCA programming to build middle-school participation. Stapley said some sports face structural constraints: OHSAA middle-school rules and the prevalence of club participation mean the district must be deliberate about adding programs so they do not diminish existing teams.

Stapley closed by noting hiring needs: the district is conducting searches for a girls varsity wrestling coach and a varsity cheer coach, with the latter role focused on competition safety and stunting instruction.

The presentation was for information; the board did not take a formal vote on participation-fee changes at the meeting but asked staff to return with formal recommendations and proposed amounts.