by Matt Wright
After much research, Lakeland school officials have decided to transition all middle school sports to the West Tennessee Athletic Conference starting in the 2021-2022 school year. This means Lakeland Prep will no longer be an official member of the local municipal school league. The municipal school league is made up of traditional middle schools in Shelby County like Houston, Collierville, Bartlett, and Arlington. Lakeland Prep Principal, Matt Adler, told Lakeland Currents, “We are excited for this new opportunity for our student athletes. This change will help solidify the foundation for athletics as we prepare for high school programming.”
The news comes on the heels of the school board recently approving a contract with a professional turf management company for Lakeland Prep athletic fields as well as a search for a full-time basketball coach. Both moves are considered to be some of the first steps towards a serious commitment to high school athletics in Lakeland.
While multiple factors went into the conference decision, the deciding factor was simple. The middle schools in the West Tennessee Athletic Conference include schools that will be part of the Lakeland Prep TSSAA classification when the high school opens in 2022. So making the transition one year early made the most sense to all involved in the decision making process. “I think it makes sense. We can go ahead and start playing many of the schools we will be playing in high school and it gives us a year to see how those schedules work,” said school board chairman Kevin Floyd.
Schools included in the WTAC are Brighton Middle School, Haywood Middle School (Brownsville, TN), Millington Middle School, Munford Middle School, Ripley Middle School, and now Lakeland Prep. Those school systems have student enrollment numbers similar to Lakeland and enrollment is the determining factor when it comes to your classification system in Tennessee. Up to this point, Lakeland has been “declaring up” and playing larger schools in the municipal school system. For example, the local municipal schools are 6A schools (in football) while Lakeland is expected to be 4A in football.
Lions Athletic Director, Chris Godwin, addressed scheduling saying, “We will play our conference games against schools our size, like Covington or Millington. But we will also schedule games against a variety of other local teams like Arlington or Houston. I think this will offer a more balanced schedule that will give kids a much wider exposure.”
Even as the smallest school in the municipal school system, the Lions have seen their share of success competing against larger, established schools, many of whom bring in athletes that live outside their school district. Municipal schools can bring in athletes through a policy known as open enrollment. Lakeland is currently the only school system in Shelby County that does not offer open enrollment. “We want our students to have every opportunity to excel whether that be on the field, on the stage, or in the classroom,” said Mr. Floyd. He continued saying, “Playing schools that are similar in size will give our student athletes and coaches that opportunity while competing for championships.”
While the one drawback of competing in the West Tennessee Athletic Conference for middle school sports is travel time, some games could be an hour away, officials believe the benefits far outweigh the negatives. They point out there is more organization since it is officially part of the TSSAA (the governing body of high school sports in Tennessee) and there is much more consistency of scheduling across all sports. End of the season tournaments for all sports was also a big deciding factor. Conference games are also scheduled a little later in the evening so athletes and parents have plenty of time to travel. A side benefit of the later scheduling means parents can routinely attend games. Municipal league games, like volleyball and basketball games, are often scheduled at 3:30 and 4:30 in the afternoons which means many parents cannot attend because it’s during working hours.
Dr. Ted Horrell, Superintendent of Lakeland School System was excited about this first step towards high school sports saying, “Athletics are such an important part of the overall school experience, and we want to be sure we’re planning and thinking ahead about what makes sense for our students in Lakeland as we add high school grades.” He finished by saying, “I think our system’s participation in the WTAC is a good move that will have both short and long-term advantages for our athletes and schools.”
