For the first time since the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School was founded, its students have been allowed to join the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School varsity swim team. Charter School administrators are ecstatic, and it is a win-win for both schools. Three Charter School kids get to compete, and the MVRHS team gets to swim in races it would have previously had to forgo due to a lack of swimmers.
“We didn’t expect good numbers this year,” Coach Jonathan Chatinover said, “so we formed a cooperative with the Charter School, which expires in two years and is just for the swim team; it is not for all sports.”
Coach Chatinover said he had five girls returning from last year; two graduated. “Seven isn’t enough, and five certainly isn’t enough. That’s when I checked in with Mark (MVRHS athletic director Mark McCarthy), and we went with the Charter School. There are logistical issues with getting the three students from the Charter School to the pool, but so far it has worked out.”
Mr. McCarthy checked with MVRHS Principal Peg Regan, and she suggested that Mr. McCarthy speak to Charter School Director Bob Moore to see if he was interested. “Obviously he was excited to try and get some of the kids involved,” Mr. McCarthy told The Times.
MVRHS has two boys and one girl swimming from the Charter School: Lucy Thompson, who swam with the YMCA Makos; Keith Chatinover, Coach Chatinover’s son; and Ryan Laslovich, whose mom is the athletic trainer at MVRHS.
“It doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you have small numbers, that could be up to nine different events where kids could be swimming where they couldn’t be swimming before,” Mr. McCarthy said. “Relays involve four kids. If you only have 10 swimmers, then only two relays can swim. But if you add two more swimmers, then you can add another relay, so now that even allows two more of the regional high school kids to be able to swim, when before they wouldn’t be able to because they didn’t have the numbers for the relay.”
“We only have 11 boys, and two of them are Charter,” said Coach Chatinover. “That helps us be competitive. We’re swimming against teams with 20 or 30 kids of each sex. When we go in there with 11 boys, it’s tough.”
Assistant Coach Leslie Craven agreed: “We don’t have a full team yet, so it’s very hard for us to win; we have spaces [in races]. We need a bigger team with more kids. It started as a club, and each year it grows more and more.”
When asked if he would reapply when the two years expire for the cooperative, Coach Chatinover said, “Absolutely.”
Following Thursday’s meet against Sandwich, Charter School Director Bob Moore said, “We’re real excited that three of our students participated in yesterday’s meet, and we’re very appreciative of the Regional High School including our students in the swimming team for this school year.”
Mr. Moore also said this is the first opportunity his students have had to compete in interscholastic athletics here on Martha’s Vineyard: “We are very appreciative of the effort that Mark McCarthy and Peg Ryan have put forth.”
When asked if Charter would be interested in joining other MVRHS sports if asked to participate, Mr. Moore was enthusiastic. “If that’s a possibility, that’d be great to hear. We would be very interested.”
Despite other MVRHS teams being small, Mr. McCarthy said he probably will not ask the Charter School to join other teams. “This year we have the eighth-grade waiver to allow eighth graders the opportunity to join MVRHS boys junior varsity hockey.” Last year the MVRHS boys junior varsity hockey program was canceled.
The Charter School’s small enrollment means its participation is not expected to affect MVRHS league participation in any meaningful way.
Mr. McCarthy hopes next year the boys junior varsity hockey will not need the waiver. “We may be looking at the possibility of doing eighth grade waivers for other sports, because we may be looking at numbers that would be too great than what we could get from the Charter School. The junior varsity girls soccer program is really the only other one we are looking at now.” The junior varsity girls hockey program does not need help.
There are five eighth graders on the boys’ team this year, allowing MVRHS to field a junior varsity boys hockey team. The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) only agrees to eighth-grade waivers if it sees a program has been canceled or if a program is in jeopardy of not continuing.
“These waivers are only good for one year, and one must reapply every year,” Mr. McCarthy said.