Twenty years ago, Telstar High School’s field hockey team numbered in the high 20s. There was a JV team – sometimes two.

Today, longtime Coach Gail Wight, who also serves as Telstar’s athletic coordinator, can barely field a full team. The squad has been at the bare minimum of 11 players for three years. Sometimes, when someone is sick or otherwise not available, Wight goes with whatever number she has in a game.

It makes for a tired team in the second half, and wins can be harder to come by. But the Rebels persevere, and there is hope for the future for this and Telstar’s other sparsely populated teams.

Telstar Rebels quarterback Will Doyle awaits the snap from Matt Dillon in Bethel during practice in this file photo from 2021. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

The current player drought is due to a number of factors. Demographically, overall student population is down across Maine. Many football and soccer programs, including Telstar’s, have gone to an eight-player format instead of 11.

Another impact came from the addition some years ago of the girls’ soccer team and a football team, which drew players away from the established field hockey and boys’ soccer teams and spread out the numbers while increasing overall sports options for students.

And more recently, COVID disrupted schedules and led to a drop in participation in any sport.

“I think they got used to not being active,” said Wight, referring to restrictions and impacts on school and extracurricular activities during the pandemic, when sports were scaled back. The indoor sport of basketball was particularly hard-hit, with the entire 2020-21 season cancelled.

“It’s hard to bring back sports after the pandemic,” Wight said.

She said she thought the added importance social media took on during the pandemic as a way for students to stay in touch with friends may have carried over and dampened participation for a time.

“It’s still very much a part of their lives,” she said.

But things are now looking up overall. Boys’ basketball this winter is expected to draw about 20 players, allowing for a JV team. Girls’ team numbers also look to improve.

While there has not been a fall cross-country running team for several years due to an inability to recruit the minimum four runners (that’s boys and girls combined), Wight said the middle school has had a team and she hopes enough eighth-graders will stick with it next year to make four.

Telstar Middle School, of course, feeds the high school teams. Wight said participation is good there on all teams, and that combined with some high school players coming back slowly after sitting on the sidelines a couple years bodes well.

There will be the usual loss of some middle school players to Gould and Hebron academies as well as to the allure of money from after-school jobs. It’s also a bigger time and competitive commitment for high school sports as compared to middle school. But those factors have always been there.

Wight, looking at things from her perspective of decades of coaching, is optimistic.

“It’s looking better,” she said.