If you were to ask a professional athlete when they started getting serious about their sport, they would say in high school, right? For many, this may be true. However, in Stoughton, an array of student-athletes will tell you that the passion for their sport began even earlier, in middle school.
The Stoughton School District’s only middle school, River Bluff, offers six different sports programs to its students throughout the fall, winter, and spring. These programs aim to get athletes excited about competing in high school, help improve student’s cooperation skills, and bring students together to build lasting friendships.
Ashley Billstrom-Luedtke has coached cross country and track at RBMS for the past eight years. Both programs are intended to get students of different grade levels and skill sets involved in sports.
“I think middle school athletics provide a really good foundation to introduce the sport and then see where your strengths lie within the sport […] once you walk into the high school program, it’s competitive because people are trying to compete for varsity spots,” Billstrom-Luedtke said.
RBMS offers different sports for each season, and a popular spring sport amongst students is track and field. Track and field is one of two sports offered at the middle school that combines girls and boys.
Bryce Gray is an eighth grader and part of RBMS’s track and field team during the spring and cross country during the fall.
“[Track] is a good way to get exercise, and I enjoy it a lot,” Gray said. “My coaches inspire me to keep going and competing.”
Billstrom-Luedtke hopes to continue getting more students involved in the sport, along with other track coaches, Jessica Martinez and Tom Murray.
“Our goals for the season are introducing the sport and all its aspects with field and running events,” Billstrom-Luedtke said. “We are giving students [the chance to] experience the sport, and then as the season goes on, they’re establishing their personal bests to build off of.”
Many current students at the high school today developed a passion for their sport starting during their time at RBMS, including senior Eliza Albert.
“I did track and field and cross-country for all three years of middle school,” Albert said.
Albert has been a part of SHS’s track and cross-country teams throughout all four years of her high school sports career. She believes RBMS athletics set her up for a successful high school career.
“Middle school is like a starting ground [for sports], and then you get to high school and it really kicks off. I would tell my younger self that it’s gonna be hard, but you just have to keep going,” Albert said.
Although River Bluff offers many of the same sports as the high school, levels of competition differ in many ways. At SHS, many sports hold Varsity and Junior Varsity spots earned through tryouts or standout performances. Varsity spots are infamous for their difficulty to attain and are often taken by upperclassmen, while Junior Varsity is a slightly lower level and standard for many underclassmen athletes.
In middle school, levels of sports are more loosely defined, and teams can be split up in various ways. RBMS’ girls and boys basketball teams offer “A” and “B” teams, with coaches assigned to both groups. However, students still have the opportunity to switch between the two groups and spend time with the whole team.
“I think the middle school is more laid back [than SHS], but you still get the opportunity to compete against other schools [in a variety of sports],” Billstrom-Luedtke said.
Now and into the future, RBMS continues to strive for more sports participation during the student’s three years, and coaches are working hard to inspire students to compete at the high school level.