Stepping up the competition
Ken Smith was walking through the halls at Freeman High School Thursday listening to the echo of his own footsteps.
“It’s pretty empty here today,” the longtime Freeman educator laughed. “Everyone is in Yakima right now – and if they aren’t, they wish they were.”
The school’s boys and girls basketball teams both are in Yakima for the State 1A basketball tournaments – the second consecutive year both teams have earned the trip.
“(Wednesday), with both teams playing early games, every classroom had the Web cast going so they could follow the games,” Smith said.
Freeman has one of the finest Class 1A athletic programs in the state. Its football team is a playoff regular. Cross-country is consistently competitive and the Scotties bring home state volleyball trophies on an annual basis. Girls basketball finished second in the state a year ago while coach Mike Thacker’s boys basketball team is an annual entrant in the state tournament – having a string of six straight state tournament trophies snapped last year.
At Freeman, the success starts early. And this year, it starts closer to home.
Freeman Middle School joined the rest of Spokane Valley’s middle schools in the same league.
Instead of competing against Northeast A League rivals like Kettle Falls and Newport, the Scotties play Central Valley, East Valley and West Valley middle schools.
“We were playing Cheney and Medical Lake, and the Mead schools at times, and they were good competition, too,” said Smith, who doubles as middle school athletic director. “The difference now is that we don’t have any lost class time to travel – at all. Our kids get home now at 6:30 in the evening instead of 10:30 or so. There are no long trips.
“Our parents are really enjoying it and what I like is the open arms of the Valley to just give us a shot at it. Without their help and their willingness to allow us to be a part of their program, we would be in a good program, but not a great athletic program.”
The numbers don’t always match up. For example, the middle school’s football teams don’t have the number of players that some of their larger rivals boast. However, the Freeman middleweight football team finished with a winning record.
Both girls basketball teams performed well, as did both volleyball teams.
The boys basketball season gets underway Monday.
“I think we’re competitive with what’s going on in the Valley,” Smith said. “The only problem is we don’t have the numbers in terms of things like having extra junior varsity teams.
“We feel like it’s really a nice fit for us.”
“This is something I’d hoped we could do for a long time,” Thacker said. “It’s such a natural fit and our teams have performed well. I just hope the Valley schools don’t get mad at us and kick us out for being too successful.
“It just makes sense for the Valley schools to include us. We’re only 15 minutes away.”
The Freeman athletic community is vital. Parental support is high and, since the middle school is located across the street from the high school, varsity athletes regularly drop by to visit and encourage.
“Our parental support is great,” Smith said. “It’s almost like our parents feel responsible not just for their own kids, but for the rest of the community. It really is a broad base of support.
“The varsity coaches are very encouraging as well. Kenny Davis always brings his volleyball team down to work with the young kids at the start of every season. There are clinics every year. Coach Matt Gregg really does a good job helping and encouraging the girls basketball teams – and coach Thacker has always done that with the boys.”
It’s as if the school has the best of two worlds – the community support of a Class B school and the availability of big school competition.
“The community is as close as the traditional Class B schools – we’ve just outgrown that level a little bit,” Smith said. “And our kids regularly get to compete with some of the best of the big schools. It’s a good place to be.”