Football is Back!
Millbrook ran a very successful football program until 1978, and while we have thrived as a school without the sport, when planning for growth to 300 students, we identified areas where program growth would also be necessary. One was our fall interscholastic sports offerings for boys.
Fall boys athletics currently includes cross country and soccer. After study and discussion, eight-man football has emerged, and both The Gunnery and Pomfret have committed to competing with us in a new league; many other notable boarding schools are also quite interested. Our goal is to have a new league and pilot season starting in the fall of 2016.
For Millbrook, eight-player football will be a viable, long-term alternative to the game in its traditional form and a return to the roots of the sport in prep schools. Students of all ranges of experience and size can contribute meaningfully as the more wide-open format relies on athleticism more than heft in this fast and high-scoring game. At the same time, when coached well, by people who both know the sport and know kids, players will develop the character traits and life lessons of teamwork, discipline, and sportsmanship—the very reason our schools have sports in the first place.
Our team of twenty players and three coaches will be able to compete successfully, and, while there is not hard data available, schools currently playing 8-man football contend that it is a safer sport than traditional football, likely due to smaller players and fewer collisions. Moreover, as evidenced by its success among relatively small, co-ed independent boarding and day schools in California, Thacher and Cate among them, eight-player football can create on campus the same school spirit and community enthusiasm as the sport’s traditional form. Finally, for football-focused elite athletes, eight-player football can be a stepping-stone to college football, particularly in NESCAC schools.
