HARTFORD, Conn. _ As high school football participation numbers continue to decline in Connecticut and individual school districts struggle to field teams on their own, more schools are choosing to join forces with others in the form of cooperative teams, or co-ops.
Football has seen participation decline steadily since peaking in the last 20 years at 10,815 players in the 2009-10 school year, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. Last year, 9,059 students participated in Connecticut, the lowest point in the last 20 years.
The decrease in participation has made it difficult to field deep rosters for some of the state's smaller communities, with many schools choosing to join forces with other schools in similar positions in order to keep their programs alive. Twenty-one co-op teams, composed of 54 schools in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, will take the field this fall, with Granby/Canton and Trinity/Wright Tech the latest joint programs to form.
"I do think it is a trend," Canton athletic director Kim Church said. "I think a lot more schools will be doing this as well."
