Citing a need to ease travel to distant schools and to control its own destiny, Oxford High School may soon be switching athletic districts.
If all goes according to plan, Oxford could move from the Flint Metro League to the Oakland Activities Association as soon as the 2010-2011 school year.
‘I think the big thing is, we live in Oakland County, so why wouldn’t we belong to an Oakland County athletic league?? Oxford Athletic Director Pat Ball.
Oxford originally joined the FML in 1982, according to the FML website.
Ball said the school has submitted a letter of interest to OAA and hopes to hear back from the association by April or early May as to whether or not Oxford will be allowed to make their case for entry into the league.
Currently, the OAA has 25 schools and three divisions (blue, red and white) of eight to nine teams each.
The three divisions vary depending on the sport played. Among the nearby OAA schools are Lake Orion, Clarkston, Rochester and Avondale.
Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to accept the Wildcats is up to OAA school officials.
Ball said discussions began informally this past fall and in February officials decided to apply to the OAA.
‘We’re very happy with our association with Flint Metro League schools,? Ball said. ?[The league has] added three new schools in the last three years, and the travel used to be relatively easy but that is no longer the case.?
In the FML, Oxford’s closest opponents are Brandon at 11.2 miles away and Lapeer East at 16.8 miles. The farthest opponent is Clio at 52.7 miles and Swartz Creek at 43 miles. An average round trip on the road against an FML opponent is more than 60 miles.
Recent additions like Swartz Creek have made travel less feasible, Ball said.
Most of Oxford’s possible OAA opponents are within 20 miles except for Farmington-area schools, which are about 45 miles away.
Another issue that facilitated the interest in change has been the discussion among Genesee County school superintendents of having a mega-league system, Ball said.
‘There’s an evolution of the Greater Flint leagues, and we want to control our own destiny,? he explained. ‘Who knows what the leagues in Flint will look like three to four years from now??
Oxford High is now up to about 1,300 students and while OAA schools are the same size or bigger, moving into a local league appealed to officials.
So far, Ball said, the feedback about the proposed move has been positive.
While some might be sad to see the end of an era with league rivals like Lapeer East, Lapeer West or Fenton, Wildcat officials are excited about moving into a new ‘neighborhood?, developing new rivalries, rekindling opportunities in school programs and facing new challenges.