Rennecke: Breaking down girls basketball’s future in Central Minnesota

ALBANY — Writing about the decline in participation for high school girls basketball in Central Minnesota is something I’d never thought I’d have to do.

It pains me to do so.

I’ve been a professional sports writer since 2003. I got to cover South Dakota’s all-time leading scorer — Mitchell Christian’s Jill Young — for four seasons, the St. Cloud State women’s basketball team for eight seasons and Central Minnesota standouts like Eden Valley-Watkins’ Hannah Linz, Sauk Centre’s Kali Peschel and Macy Weller and Albany’s big three of Alyssa Sand, Kylan Gerads and Tatum Findley. But I never thought I’d see the day where one of the sports I’ve enjoyed covering the most was suffering this much.

All the basketball die-hards in Central Minnesota have witnessed what’s happened with the formation of the

St. Cloud Crush

(Apollo and Tech) and the struggles of that program and others like

Sauk Rapids-Rice

,

ROCORI

and — to a certain degree —

St. Cloud Cathedral

.

And, yes, there are still consistently good programs like

Sartell

,

Albany

and

Holdingford

. Sartell has enjoyed consistency under longtime head coach Katie Martin, Albany has been led to great success by head coach Aaron Boyum and Holdingford is guided by a committed coach in Joel McDonough.

But the low participation numbers aren’t just a problem in Central Minnesota. That Mitchell Christian program I mentioned in South Dakota? That school hasn’t been able to field a team for the last two winters.

Think about that for a minute. The all-time leading scorer in that state’s history can’t even say her old team exists.

Sadly, this could happen anywhere — and it already is in Minnesota. The Crush co-op is not uncommon. Rush City, which has qualified for the Class 2A state volleyball tournament the past three seasons, was forced to co-op with nearby North Branch for a girls basketball co-op.

Andy Rennecke / St. Cloud LIVE

And therein lies the biggest problem: sports specialization and the rise in popularity in volleyball. You can’t tell me that some of Rush City’s volleyball players, which this past season consisted of seven players who were 5-foot-8 or taller, wouldn’t make decent basketball players.

When athletes at small schools like Rush City specialize, it makes even more of an impact.

Boyum helped guide Albany to a Class 2A state championship in 2021 and state championship game appearances in 2023 and 2024. If it wasn’t for one of the best players in state basketball history — Providence Academy’s Maddyn Greenway — the Huskies most likely would’ve won three championships in four years thanks to the contributions of future college basketball players in Sand (St. Thomas), Gerads (St. Cloud State), Findley (St. Benedict) and Savanna Pelzer (Minnesota-Morris).

So how have Boyum and Albany been able to maintain so much success? Even in a rebuilding year — like with the 2024-25 season — Boyum still guided the young Huskies to a respectable 13-15 record (which included a tough 1-8 start).

“We’re fortunate to have a tradition of success, some recently and historically,” Boyum said. “The community is well aware of that success. A lot of people have great memories of those teams. And, we have a really good youth organization. The Albany Youth Basketball Association runs the boys and girls youth programs and does a nice job preparing the kids for the future. They do a good job of balancing the number of tournaments they play to help them remain competitive with a longer view of having success when they’re older.”

Despite that, Boyum said, Albany’s youth basketball association has experienced a slight dip in participation.

“We’re like many others in that we’ve seen that dip. But I’m still optimistic about the future and I stay positive about it. But I’d be lying to anyone who asked if we haven’t seen those numbers go down,” Boyum said.

Andy Rennecke / St. Cloud LIVE

But what an outsider like me first notices about Albany’s program is that the skill level has remained high. When you watch other area varsity teams play, it reminds you of a skill level you would see on a mid-2000’s C-squad or freshmen team.

“We put a high level of importance on fundamentals. Jump stops, ball fakes, pivots — those very fundamental things you teach at an early age,” Boyum said. “Doing those basic things go a long way for skill level in basketball. Having kids buy into the fundamental aspects of the game has been a real positive for us.”

I grew up in a town of less than 600 people. I attended Cosmos Schools (which had grades K-12 in it until the spring of 1993) from kindergarten through seventh grade before the state forced our school to join Atwater and Grove City.

But before that consolidation,

Cosmos

was a power in high school girls volleyball. The Royals made the state tournament in 1986 and 1991. That 1991 team had one of the best

St. Cloud State

volleyball players of all-time, Krista Hartung, on it.

But what made Cosmos special back then was that it had a slew of three-sport athletes. Even if they were great at volleyball, female athletes in my hometown still went out for basketball in the winter or softball in the spring. And most of those great volleyball players were just average to above-average at basketball and softball.

Andy Rennecke / St. Cloud LIVE

But they went out for those other sports to help their school and have fun with their friends. And that’s how times are different.

Boyum just finished up his second year as the president of the Minnesota Girls Basketball Coaches Association. He recognizes that what’s happening at St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids-Rice and ROCORI is more than concerning.

“St. Cloud isn’t alone,” Boyum said. “I hope they continue to get younger kids involved at an early age. With my position with the coaches association, I’ve spoken with coaches all across the state. I think it’s a complex situation and I don’t know if any one thing can help. There just isn’t an instant solution here.”

Boyum said there is an emphasis on making sure Albany athletes go out for as many sports as possible. Boys and girls coaches work together and encourage athletes to give themselves a break from specializing in one sport.

Andy Rennecke / St. Cloud LIVE

“There aren’t as many three-sport athletes around the state. We still have a lot of them in Albany though. We place an importance on that,” Boyum said. “When basketball season rolls around, that’s when they concentrate more on it. And, if they play a different sport in the fall, they’re rejuvenated for the basketball season when we start practice. There’s definitely less chance for burnout — and injury — that way.”

And, there’s the bigger issue of trying to get volleyball players to not dedicate themselves to that sport for almost the entire year.

“Kids have more of a chance to specialize in things than ever before,” Boyum said. “Volleyball leagues are running year-round. And, basketball is a contact sport while volleyball isn’t. Not every athlete likes that aspect of basketball.”

Volleyball is a great sport to play and cover, but do athletes have to devote 10 months out of their year to it? As crazy as it sounds, that’s the biggest question facing girls basketball’s future.

Every athlete’s situation is different. But even with the rise and popularity of the WNBA and standout players like Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers, the future of girls basketball is a very murky one at best.