Burwell schools has released a statement announcing that “Burwell Public Schools will play a Junior Varsity only schedule for their boys basketball team this 2024/2025 season.” The letter stated that the decision was made on the fact of low participation numbers for the season.
Adam Stolzer, Jr./Sr. High principal and boys basketball coach for Burwell told KCNI/KBBN sports that the decision was not an easy one to make but was made with the best interest of the student athletes in mind. Stolzer provided context as to why the decision was made.
“What the facts are of the situation is we had an injury prior to football season that took a student athlete out and they are not going to be able to play. After that our participation numbers are just low to where a JV schedule was what was best for us based off the participants that we did have. Just our participation numbers are low. The injury did not help out with that. Like our statement said we are trying to provide the best opportunity for kids. It was just best to play a JV schedule…It’s where we’re at. We just don’t have a lot of kids out for basketball right now and JV is a better position for them.”
Stolzer talked about what the numbers look like moving forward for Burwell and emphasized that participating only at the JV level this season for boys basketball was the safest and best move to enhance the development of the young players who are currently in the program.
“We have good junior high numbers. We don’t have any seniors out for basketball. Last year we didn’t have any juniors out. They would have been juniors last year and seniors this year. We didn’t have any of those kids out. The participation numbers that we do have, the majority of them, over 75% of them are freshmen and sophomores. With the majority of our team being freshmen the JV suits them. It’s going to be what’s safer for them, it’s going to be more at their skill level. We are thankful that we have enough to provide basketball to our student athletes for their experience but the JV level is a more appropriate skill level to develop them for the rest of their high school career rather than force them into the varsity action.”
The statement that was released communicated that the school is “committed to growing the Burwell Boys Basketball program through our skill development and engaging the youth in new ways. The Longhorns are not going anywhere. We will stay focused on our mission of raising positive young men for our community.”
