Johnston Community Schools Athletic Director, Gary Ross, spoke to Johnston Rotary this Tuesday. Gary talked about accomplishments and restructuring plans in Johnston athletics.

Johnston athletics had some great success leading into the 2014-15 athletic season. Girls softball was 2014 state champions and boys soccer was state runner-up. One of the players for boys soccer is currently practicing with the U.S. national world cup team.

Fall/Winter of 2014 also saw some very impressive success. The football team made the second round of state playoffs. Girls cross country was team state champion and boys cross country finished third in the state. All six of the fall athletic programs made state. This was the first time in school history that the wrestling team made the dual state competition. Girls bowling achieved both team and individual state championships.  

Gary also talked about some of the ongoing changes in the CIML. The league is now on a rotating schedule. Moving forward, Johnston will compete with Urbandale and Dowling every year while the rest of the schedules will change year-to-year. This scheduling structure is expected to continue at least until 2020. Dallas Center-Grimes and Norwalk are both growing communities and could be added to the CIML within the next decade.

One current focus of Johnston athletics is Sixth and Seventh grade sports. A plan approved by the Johnston School Board restructures middle school athletics to an after school, fee based structure. Sixth and Seventh grade athletic programs will, aside from football, not be competing against other schools. The 6-7 football teams will join with a suburban league while volleyball and basketball programs will be community education based. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays will be dedicated to the sport while Wednesdays and Fridays would allow students to participate in other activities such as non-traditional sports & enrichment programs.

Eighth grade programs are to be enhanced by programs being split into two teams, Purple and Gold, each with full competitive schedules.

The athletic department is also looking to add coaches to Eighth grade and High School programs to address growing participation. As an example of the need, Boys cross country currently has over 100 students participating with only two coaches.