Let Clark Fork High School students play ball

Year in and year out Sandpoint's boys' and girls' soccer teams are the ones to beat in state competition against schools the same size.

The 4A classification is smaller than the 5A classification where the Coeur d'Alene and Boise teams reside but the Bulldogs hold their own with the much bigger schools.

Two Clark Fork girls want to try out for the girls' soccer team at Sandpoint High School this fall. They want to join the Bulldogs because CFHS doesn't offer girls' soccer. CFHS also doesn't have baseball, softball, dance or competitive cheerleading.

The problem facing SHS is that if the CFHS girls make the team, the girls' squad has to move up a classification and would compete against the biggest schools in Idaho.

The board of trustees discussed the matter this week and will decide on what to do soon.

The trustees are in a tough spot. The vast majority of SHS coaches don't like the idea of moving up a classification in girls' soccer. On the other hand, CFHS doesn't offer this sport and the girls apparently have a right to compete for a school in the same school district.

It makes sense to us to let the girls tryout for the sport. After all, athletics is about fielding the strongest teams. If the move raises the bar of competition, it will feel all that much better to hoist a 5A girls' soccer championship banner at the high school at the end of the season.

That championship would prove once and for all that Sandpoint, with the assistance of a Wampus Cat or two, is the undisputed soccer capital of Idaho.

If the Clark Fork girls don't make the team, at least they were given a shot. That will also make the Bulldogs a better team.

? David Keyes is publisher of the Daily Bee.