Lapeer and ND Prep Turned Down by OAA. Disbandment Possible.

Written Saturday March 5th at 6:25 PM

The Oakland Activities Association had a choice, to expand or possibly disband.

They chose to retain the status quo further increasing the risk of possibly disbanding.

In a surprising or not a surprising move (pending who you talk to), the OAA voted down offers from both Lapeer and Pontiac Notre Dame Prep to join the conference. The move to reject both schools keeps the schools at 23 league members.

This is not the first time the OAA has turned down members. In 2009, the league turned down Grand Blanc and Davison and now has again decided to turn down two schools, this time Lapeer and ND Prep.

There is a lot of unhappiness in the OAA these days, schools are not happy with both the amount of travel. Schools often have to travel up to 45 minutes to an hour especially on school nights also enrollment issues with several smaller schools refusing to play against the bigger schools especially in football, many of the bigger enrolled schools happen to be north of M-59.

The big reason why the OAA turned down Lapeer is over travel, especially with the schools in the southern parts of Oakland County. They simply refuse to travel that far north. They have problems driving north towards Lake Orion, Oxford, and Clarkston and adding Lapeer would be further complicate things with those southern schools. The northern schools especially Lake Orion, Oxford, Clarkston, Rochester, Adams, and Stoney Creek were really pushing to include Lapeer in the league. Lapeer regularly plays those six on a consistent basis also they participate in the same youth leagues as several of those schools however, schools like West Bloomfield, Southfield, and especially Farmington (which includes North Farmington) and the smaller schools (Royal Oak, Berkley, Hazel Park, Ferndale) were all against Lapeer joining primarily because of travel reasons, ignoring the fact that Lapeer provides quality competition and competes in the Saginaw Valley where Lapeer has to travel up to three hours on school nights to schools like Mount Pleasant, Bay City, Saginaw, and Midland.

The big reason why the OAA turned down Notre Dame Prep is because ND Prep is not a public school. ND Prep also recruits but several schools like West Bloomfield, Southfield, and the Farmington schools openly recruit. Another reason why OAA turned down ND Prep was because back in 1999, the OAA turned down Detroit Country Day and Cranbrook Kingswood primarily for the same reasons. ND Prep is close to several OAA schools like Pontiac, Avondale, and is in the center of Oakland County but because ND Prep is not a public school, the league voted them down.

The league is at a crossroads, what will they do?

One question, why can’t they go Geographic?

The OAA Charter signed in 1994 states that they can’t go geographic especially in football but times have changed, they have experienced success going geographic especially in their spring sports (baseball and track). Also it might be time to consider going geographic or risk outright league disbandment. By declining Lapeer and Notre Dame Prep, the league has shown they are not interested in expanding, there’s two choices, stay the status quo (which with all the rumblings, won’t go over well) or disband?

Possible disbandment.

With the league’s rejection of Notre Dame Prep and especially Lapeer, could this be the straw that breaks the camel’s back? The northern schools especially Lake Orion, Oxford, Clarkston, and the three Rochester schools were really pushing for Lapeer to come into the OAA but the majority of the southern schools said no. With the travel issues and schools refusing to play each other, especially with the southern schools in football, could it be time to break the league up? Even if Kettering and Mott were to return to the OAA, could it be time for the league to disband on geographical lines. The OAA missed a valuable opportunity with Lapeer and ND Prep, could it pay for it at the end? We will have to wait and see.