A new beginning, a new building, a new era: these are exciting times for Wadena-Deer Creek students.
The annual WDC fall sports meeting will be held at 6 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 9, in the Elementary cafeteria. Varsity fall sports will kick off Monday Aug, 13.
WDC student-athletes and coaches have been flexible and adjusted for the last two years and now the payoff is in sight. With a beautiful, shiny gymnasium, complete with a walking track, an extra gymnasium with a climbing wall and batting cage, a wrestling room and a state-of-the-art weight room, the new school will truly be home to be proud of for many years. Having spent some time in the new school this summer, I can tell the readers of this column that it is a fantastic facility.
I would like to encourage all of our students to get involved in activities at WDC. Over the past 13 years that I have been at WDC, we have gotten smaller. We have gone from classes of 130-plus to classes only in the 70s and 80s. Despite this drop in enrollment, we still manage to offer 19 sports for our student athletes to participate in. While the drop in enrollment creates challenges, it also creates tremendous opportunities for kids. A student at WDC has a chance to be a meaningful contributor to multiple athletic teams. In order to take advantage of these opportunities, we need students to be involved. There are few places in the area that offer more chances to participate in varsity activities than WDC has.
I would like to remind student-athletes and parents that there are some very important things that all students must have before fall sports start. Most of these can be taken care of at the fall sports meeting, which is why it is incredibly important for all student athletes and their parents to attend.
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First, all students must have a sports physical on file at the school. These are required every three years and are typically done in 7th and 10th grade. These need to be scheduled by the individual family through their own provider. Students absolutely cannot practice until this is complete. In other words, for 9-12 football, 9-12 volleyball, 7-12 cheerleading, 7-12 cross country and 7-12 girls' tennis these must be complete prior to their first day of practice on Aug. 13. For 7-8 grade football and 7-8 grade volleyball, they will need to have their physical before Aug. 27, their first day of practice. Let your provider know you are scheduling a sports physical and ask for the MSHSL physical form. Your provider will have these forms on hand.
The other forms that are required by the Minnesota State High School League and/or WDC are the MSHSL Health Questionnaire, MSHSL Eligibility Brochure and Wadena-Deer Creek Athletic Handbook form. All of these can be taken care of at our sports meeting.
Finally, each student must pay the WDC extracurricular fee. The fee is $50 per student per sport for 9-12 grades, except for hockey. For 7-8 grade students the fee is $30 per student per sport. I would also like to let student athletes and parents know that waiver forms are available and confidential for those in need. We want students to participate and do not want the cost to be prohibitive to anyone. We want our students to be in as many activities as possible.
I look forward to seeing a great turnout on Aug. 9. If you have any questions, please call me at 218-632-2310 or Mary Fix 218-632-2381. Get involved, have fun, and make it a great day to be a Wolverine.
