Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
With less than a month until the Tuesday, Nov. 4, general election in Thurston County, many athletes and their families have been wondering what the future of athletics in Yelm Community Schools will look like if an educational programs and operations levy fails for a fourth consecutive try.
On Monday, Oct. 6, Yelm High School Athletic Director Matt Mounts detailed what could be at hand with a quadruple levy failure in YCS. He said the cutting of all sports, with the option of self-funding for each athletic program, is a very real possibility.
“I’ve heard through multiple sources that I’ve talked to that it is a consideration. If the levy doesn’t pass, there’s very few cuts left to make,” Mounts said. “Sports at Yelm High School are on the table as something that could go. There’s been a lot of questions asked as to how the WIAA approaches this and what they do — and on all fronts, I haven’t gotten a lot of answers.”
The athletic director added that the YCS Board of Directors will have a say in the future of sports in YCS, along with other looming cuts, if the levy fails for a fourth time.
“I hope and pray that it doesn’t come to this situation, and if it does, this is going to be very tough on a lot of kids — including my own,” Mounts said.
When asked if winter and spring athletics in 2025-26 would be cut in YCS following a potential fourth levy failure, or if there’s a chance for those sports teams to play in the 2025-26 school year, Mounts said that “everything is up for discussion.”
“I know there are groups out there that have been trying to raise funds to help supplement, and I think we’re charting on territory that really hasn’t happened in the state of Washington,” Mounts said. “Some of those answers are really tough for people to give right now considering a decision hasn’t been made. Honestly, trying to have the community fund these things is just a bandaid on the situation, and I don’t know the long-term feasibility of it. But there are groups out there trying to salvage this year if that decision were to be made.”
Additionally, Mounts said predicting the total cost of each team and sport would be hard to do because of a number of variables, such as salary scales for coaches, the total number of coaches allocated to student turnout, and more.
“I know that one of the biggest costs that comes through is coaches salary, but then the number of home games we have changes the funding model quite a bit,” Mounts said. “With fall sports happening, if you were to categorize costs by season, fall sports are significantly more expensive than the other seasons.”
He believes that YHS and YCS have already made it through the biggest financial hurdle of the 2025-26 school year as fall sports are set to conclude within the district in less than a month — excluding postseason play.
Additionally, Mounts said that Title IX has, and will, play a big part in the future of athletics within YCS. For example, if boys wrestling were to raise enough money to fund its season, it would call for girls wrestling to do the same in order to avoid Title IX legalities.
“Title IX is a big consideration in all of these things. It has to be followed. If one sport were to successfully fundraise to have a season, it’s almost imperative that the other one also does that,” Mounts said. “As for final decisions, I know that Title IX plays a big role in that, and I’ve encouraged all these groups to view themselves as one. Boys and girls basketball should view themselves as basketball, and try to fundraise so that both can exist. Same with wrestling, baseball and fastpitch.”
Mounts is personally vested in the ongoing athletics situation at YHS as the school’s athletic director, but also as a parent of two student-athletes who attend YHS.
“I definitely wear two hats in this situation. I wear the hat as athletic director from the school side of things, but I’m also a parent. Being the parent of a senior, to see the stress that this is causing, just on my son, I know that other kids are going through the same thing. I also have a freshman here who has been dreaming of playing high school sports and playing varsity on the high school teams. This is what they look forward to. This is what they do,” Mounts said. “They spent so much time and energy, and to think about it being taken away from any kid — it hurts. The situation we’re in, it obviously is a consideration, but personally, it’s very hard to accept. I’ve been putting in a lot of time communicating with different groups, with different individuals — especially our booster club — on how we can make this year work.”
Mounts noted that those are small battles that need to be attacked one by one, and added that finishing out the 2025-26 school year with those athletic opportunities provided to students is the biggest task at hand “right now.”
“If the decision is made to not have athletics after this year, at least the kids have some wiggle room with the WIAA to explore those other options outside of Yelm,” Mounts said. “This year would be awfully difficult and I don’t know if the WIAA even has language to allow them to participate in other sports this year without significant transfer penalties or being deemed ineligible because they started the school year at a different school without their family doing a total move to another district. That answer isn’t in the books, and I think it would take an amendment to the rules. It’s been really quiet because we’re working in uncharted waters when it comes to this.”
