Advocate promotes wrestling program

Casey Kendall looks like a wrestler, but he's not.

He was a Golden Gloves boxer in high school and college. Two of his children participate in scholastic wresting programs today, however.

That's part of the reason Kendall has become the town's leading advocate of greater support for high school and middle school wrestling. He thinks the sport has helped his own sons in a variety of ways and could do the same for many more if they, too, were attracted to a strong program.

This belief caused Kendall to write a letter to the editor of The Nugget last month and to follow up with an appearance before the Sisters School Board to make a personal pitch on January 13.

A native of Boise, Kendall is a heavy construction superintendent who has lived in Sisters for six years.

In voicing concern about the wrestling program, Kendall is not talking to a stone wall. Some of his thoughts are reaching sympathetic ears on influential heads. School Board Chairman Jeff Smith, for example, wrestled during his four undergraduate years at Oregon State University, placing fourth at his weight level in the NCAA nationals in 1967.

"I'm a great supporter of wrestling," said Smith. "I wish everybody shared my passion for wrestling, but they don't."

Smith attends all of the after-school Outlaws wrestling team practices that he is able to.

For his part, Sisters School Superintendent Steve Swisher says that during his first year on the job here wrestling was about to be axed. Several factors had caused student interest to dwindle and the pressure to pare the district budget was heavy.

"But I'm an ex-head wrestling coach (Aloha High School) and I wanted to try to keep it alive," Swisher said.

He and his allies succeeded, and those who follow the sport believe its chance of growing into a strong program at Sisters High is better today than for some years past.

One basis for that expectation is Tony Cosby. In his college years, Cosby wrestled for national powerhouse Oklahoma State University. He joined the Sisters High School teaching staff last year and served as an assistant wrestling coach. This year he was made head coach and has accepted lead responsibility for building the program.

Casey Kendall is right about the existence of some obstacles, including a lack of money. Yet virtually all the sports at Sisters High face similar obstacles (See sidebar below). Many are classified as "unfunded."

One of Kendall's worries is the lack of district support for transportation, making it difficult for the wrestling team to travel to other schools for meets. But the superintendent notes that "wrestling is not the only sport that has that issue."

None of the unfunded sports receive district funds for transportation, although some use district buses and reimburse the district out of private funds.

Everyone in touch with the wrestling program acknowledges that the facilities available now are far from ideal. The team practices in the weight room in a loft above the gym.

But as Swisher notes, "That's going to dramatically change when we move into our new (high school) building. There's a multipurpose room there (that will be) an excellent wrestling practice area during the course of the season. So that should really help not only the high school program, but when the middle schoolers move into the current high school, that upstairs mat area will probably be very sufficient for the middle school program."

At the school board meeting and in a subsequent interview, Kendall also complained about the role of Bob Macauley, the vice principal and football coach at Sisters High. Kendall said that in most other schools he knows about, the football and wrestling programs cooperate closely, with many football players signing up for the wrestling team and some coaches doing both sports.

Kendall believes Macauley discourages kids from going into wrestling.

Macauley adamantly denies that, while complaining about being publicly criticized by someone who has not bothered to come and talk to him about the problem being alleged.

(Kendall says Macauley has refused to return his phone calls).

"Actually, wrestling catches some of the kids we don't catch anywhere else, and that is super important," Macauley said last week, echoing one of Kendall's own points. "But I don't think the football coach is the bad guy here...I think my record speaks for itself.

"It would be my desire to see wrestling as a premier sport here. It's not in my interest to be negative toward wrestling....We've kept wrestling alive when the numbers have indicated maybe we shouldn't. We have gone out and hired a very good coach who is on staff and who can shepherd the program."

On a more philosophical note, when asked what he thinks the wrestling program needs most, Board Chairman Smith answered slowly:

"We need continuity in our coaching, we need to have several wrestlers find real success, and we need to start to build a tradition. Where does money fit in? I don't think money is very important, to tell you the truth."

Most school sports lack funds

By Don Robinson

All of the Sisters High School sports have to scramble for funds.

Superintendent Steve Swisher explained that the high school's sports are divided into two large groups -- funded and unfunded. Those in the first group receive money for coaches' salaries, officiating at games or matches and transportation costs for traveling to other schools in the conference or district.

The unfunded sports receive money for coaches' salaries but none of the other items. None of the teams receive district money for uniforms, equipment or other accouterments.

All of the sports, regardless of category, raise private funds for a variety of needs.

The pay for coaches is allocated on a three-tier system and ranges from $2,200 to $3,000 per season. About a quarter of the coaches are teachers on the SHS staff.

"We really don't fund very significantly," Swisher said.

Yet Sisters' overall sports menu is large. In comparison with the rest of the schools in the Capital Conference, Swisher says, "I think we're at least equivalent, and in some cases more so."

The athletics budget is more than a shoestring, but it is no high-top Nike.

"...We spend about $225,000 on all sports combined," Swisher said. "We're just about at the bottom of the Capital Conference."

The other districts' total spending ranges from "more than twice" Sisters' total to about $280,000.

At Sisters High, the funded sports (B for boys, G for girls) include: Football (B), basketball (B,G), volleyball (G), track (B,G) baseball (B), softball (G) and soccer (B,G). The unfunded list is composed of cross country (B,G) swimming (B,G), wrestling (B), tennis (G), golf (B,G) and skiing (B,G).