Shawnee Mission 7th graders will be able to play school basketball starting this fall

Shawnee Mission seventh graders can play competitive school basketball starting the 2022-23 school year.

Why the change? All other sports available at the middle school level — cross country, volleyball and wrestling — are mixed-grade with both seventh and eighth grade students. Prior to this year, only eighth graders were eligible to play basketball for their middle schools.

• Allowing seventh graders to play basketball competitively will “maximize the competitive potential of” Shawnee Mission at local and state levels, according to board documents.

The details: Starting this school year, both seventh and eighth grade students can try out for one of the three mixed-grade level teams, A1, A2 and A3.

• This applies to both girls and boys basketball programs.
• Students who don’t make one of the teams can participate in the instructional league at their middle school, which is held in or out of season based on building needs.
• The district said there is no additional program cost associated with the move to open basketball up to seventh graders.
• This is the same way middle school volleyball works, according to board documents.

What’s next: Kent Glaser, the district’s director of athletics and activities, told the board at its June 27 meeting that the department is looking at how to extend athletic opportunities past spring break for middle schoolers.

• Glaser said the department is looking into soccer and other options to allow students to participate in activities the entire school year.
• This will likely come with a cost, so any updates to post-spring break athletics will come before the board for final consideration.
• No changes will be made until the 2023-24 school year, Glaser said.

Key quote: “We’re looking forward to the additional opportunities that (the addition) provides to more students to be able to become involved in that,” Glaser said. “There is no additional cost to that, no programming change, just simply allowing an entire other grade to join in an athletic activity that they previously did not have the opportunity to do so.”