CHICOPEE – Concerned about a declining number of high school students joining sports teams in the past few years, the School Committee has created a task force to study the issue.

For several years Chicopee and Comprehensive High school has seen fewer and few students interested in playing sports after school. The issue has caused the two schools to have to join teams such as gymnastics because there are not enough students at either school for a full team, said Sean Mackin, the athletic director for the School Department.

Mackin recently spoke at a School Committee meeting after members aired concerns about a lack of student participation in school sports.

School Committee Mary-Elizabeth Pniak-Costello, who proposed the discussion and the task force, said she sees youth sports programs started, grow popular for a few years and then start dropping off or simply die.

Without feeder programs, the high schools have difficulty finding students who have experience playing a sport and are interested in joining a team. That in turn makes the schools less competitive when going against rival schools, she said.

“How can be build a program for the youth that is sustainable that will not stop?” she asked.

The city, for example, has a new youth football league but needs more support from the city and easy and inexpensive access to the Parks Department sports fields, Pniak-Costello said.

“I think this is a multi-faceted problem,” Mackin said. “We have to look at the pandemic, professionalism of youth sports and socio-economic factors.”

One of the problems is it can cost $1,200 to $1,500 per season when middle-school-aged students get involved in sports that offer a higher level of competition. Some Chicopee families simply cannot afford the cost, he said.

Another factor that makes it difficult to recruit students is there are many after-school jobs available to students now, so many teens chose to work instead of staying after school to play sports, he said.

Pniak-Costello proposed the task force have seven to eight members including Mackin, volunteers who head up recreational sports programs and other coaches.

The Committee agreed with the proposal, but member Donald J. Lamothe recommended the head of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department also be appointed to the group since a lot of youth sports programs are run through the department and teams usually need to rent city fields to play.

“Can we have a couple of students on this?” asked member Susan Szetela Lopes. “They could have good ideas.”

Pniak-Costello and the School Committee agreed to the suggestions. Once it is formed, the task force is expected to meet at least once a month.

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