MONROE — The Monroe Board of Education took on a recommendation from Athletic Director Jeff Newcomer and unanimously approved the school’s departure from the Rock County Fury girls hockey co-op, effective next school year. Currently, there is just one player from Monroe on the team, sophomore Marlies Brandli, who was in attendance at the Jan. 24 BOE meeting.
“Right now we have one student (in the program), and the family has been pretty clear on their stance on where they would like their student athlete to play and participate,” Monroe Director of Pupil Services Joe Monroe said at the meeting. “To be clear, they would like Marlies to play with the boys hockey program.”
Among the reasons were early practice times, no home games in Monroe (just in Beloit and Janesville), and a lack of immediate incoming players for next season. Last school year, when both the girls and boys hockey teams played at the club level due to COVID19 issues, Brandli played with the Monroe boys club team, and has played with those same players since childhood.
“Practice locations for the team vary depending on ice availability. … This year, Monroe wasn’t able to provide any ice time. All practices have been in Beloit,” Monroe Athletic Director Jeff Newcomer wrote in his recommendation to the school board. He said that due to nearly 10 schools represented in the co-op, finding a practice time that works for everyone is nearly impossible.
Practices are 5-6:30 a.m., plus travel time several days a week. A Monroe student would have to leave Monroe at 4 a.m. to drive to Beloit for practice, then driving another 48 minutes back before school starts at 8 a.m., Newcomer said.
“We have to ask ourselves if that is what is best for students. Providing girls an opportunity to play WIAA Girls Hockey is important and valuable, but for Monroe female students it comes with great sacrifice. The distance to travel daily during the winter months and the time of day that travel is required is an issue,” Newcomer said.
Marlies Brandli’s father, Godi Brandli, said that the original practice schedule for the Fury didn’t have morning practices. “It was about 2-3 weeks in that they changed the schedule,” Godi said, which prompted his first public speaking at a board meeting earlier this season.
Wisconsin driving statutes do not allow probationary licensed drivers, typically those 16-years-old and in their first nine months with a license, to drive between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. unless driving between home and school or work.
“I think it highlights that 5 a.m. practices are totally unreasonable,” said board member Dan Bartholf, before suggesting possible future board action to create guidelines to prevent such occurrences from happening again. “I understand why they did it … but I think we should have rough guidelines on what’s a reasonable time period. I’m not even talking the hockey program — I’m talking everything. If our basketball team wanted to have practice at 4 a.m., I wouldn’t want that.”
The board briefly debated the issue, and asked questions in regards to Title IX implications, the safety of a girl playing boys varsity hockey, as well as school expenditures spent on the affiliation. MHS is billed by Beloit Memorial High School, the host school in the co-op, based on a percentage of players per school. Newcomer said it costs
around $1,200-1,300 per year per student. MHS invoices families $1,000, and this year the district agreed to pay mileage for all practices and games, as well as overnight accommodations for away tournaments. “We have also paid for certain equipment. This estimated cost is $3,000 to the district,” Newcomer said.
There is a chance the school to re-join the co-op in two years for the 2024-25 season, should more players come up through the pipeline. Newcomer gathered a list of youth female hockey players in the Monroe Youth Hockey Association that are actively participating. “The next known female is in fifth grade this year, one girl, and then two girls are in fourth grade,” he said.
“I think one of the biggest questions that the board will have to ask is, ‘how will this effect participation in the future?’ I think the reality is that as of right now, there is one student athlete directly impacted by this decision,” Joe Monroe said. “Is it possible that down the road we could have additional female students that like to play hockey and would like to be involved in a co-op? That is certainly possible.
“[The] one potential downside is that if down the line, let’s say four years, we went to revisit the co-op, they [Beloit] might say ‘thanks, but no thanks — you opted out’. But the one thing that I will say as we’ve navigated issues with the co-op is that team and their staff have been professional and considerate. … I’d like to think we’d be in good standing with that program should we want to revisit it down the line.”
The Fury hockey co-op has a contract for schools to join on a two-year basis. Monroe has been a member for 10 years.
“Monroe joined the co-op to provide female hockey players in Monroe an opportunity to play Girls WIAA high school hockey. The WIAA does allow girls to play boys hockey when a girls team is not available. If a WIAA team is not available, kids can still participate in club hockey during the winter,” Newcomer said.
