Marysville Getchell C teams begin athletic tradition as school waits for facilities, WIAA approval

MARYSVILLE — They don’t have their own uniforms yet, but it’s easy to tell this isn’t Marysville-Pilchuck — in fact, you can hear it from the parking lot.

For now, the newest high school in Marysville will share nearly the same asthenic with its soon-to-be rival. They play on the same fields and wear the same colors, but that will all change in about a year.

“We just had our first pep assembly,” said Getchell football coach John Natterstad. “We had to work our way through it, but kids were coming in wearing green and gold, even though we don’t even have any spirit wear for sale yet.”

For this year, Marysville Getchell will have just “C” teams in sports where there are enough participants to warrant a team. Those teams are primarily made up of freshmen and sophomores.

So far, so good, as all three programs eligible of having a team for freshmen and sophomores are represented.

“It’s been outstanding so far,” said Marysville school district athletic director Greg Erickson. “We won’t know how well it has gone until we get into the winter and spring sports, but it’s a great way to develop an athletic culture up there.”

Getchell is likely the only school to hold an assembly for a “C” team football game, but you’ve got to start somewhere. And that’s how fired up the Chargers are to be a part of Marysville’s newest high school.

The idea of a year with “C” teams came out of necessity when, despite opening its doors earlier this year, the school couldn’t guarantee having facilities for all of its sports this year — a requirement to be recognized by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.

“We are doing this actually a year longer than I wanted, but the (school) board wanted to get started right away,” said Erickson. “And it’s gone well.”

“C” team play isn’t recognized by the WIAA, so Getchell was able to get players onto the courts, fields and track as soon as the facilities are finished.

As a result, Getchell has football, volleyball and girls soccer teams this fall, complete with their own schedule. Between 60 and 70 students comprise the “C” teams, with more sophomores and juniors playing on Marysville-Pilchuck JV and varsity teams.

The girls soccer “C” team practices at Marysville-Pilchuck and the volleyball team heads up to the Getchell gymnasium. The football team has been practicing at Quil Ceda Stadium, but just moved to the newly completed practice field with artificial turf on the Getchell campus.

While officially part of the Pilchuck programs, the “C” teams do provide help with the higher levels of play at Pilchuck in the event of an injury or small roster, but they are by no means an extension of that program.

“We help out with the JV teams and we get some players from them if we need to,” said Getchell soccer coach Issa Elhayek.

The Getchell “C” teams are made up completely of students from the new school — with an occasional exception — and that is by design.

“We wanted to keep it that way, so (the Getchell players) can play and develop together,” said Elhayek.

That idea has seemed to pay dividends when it comes to creating a new school spirit and team camaraderie.

“We get along really well and I’m glad we get to play together,” said Sarah Davey, Getchell sophomore and soccer player. “I don’t see many of my teammates during the day, but I just like knowing they are on campus.”

Screams of “Go Chargers” can be heard at every game or match Getchell plays in so far, so the identity is growing.

What helps is finding ways to differentiate from M-P, which Natterstad has done with the way his team plays.

“(Marysville-Pilchuck head football coach Brandon Carson) has developed a great system, but I like to teach all aspects and have a more balanced attack,” said Natterstad, who is also a social studies teacher at Getchell. “They’ll probably hand the ball off more, but there are some things we’ll take from them.”

The volleyball “C” has an easier time doing so, as they play in the newly constructed gym at Getchell. So newly constructed, in fact, that the players turned out at M-P and then spent a couple of weeks in the Cedarcrest Middle School.

“It’s definitely better than not having sports for a year,” said volleyball coach Kara Veach. “Now all of these kids get the chance to play. (M-P) would have had to cut 10 kids this year if we didn’t have these teams.”

The volleyball team is arguably the biggest success already, as they had almost enough Getchell kids turnout to fill two team, making all but two of the freshmen on “C” teams in Marysville will be part of the Getchell program.

“It’s a different kind of situation because I feel like I have my own program, but at the same time, I am part of the Pilchuck program,” said Veach.

Erickson said that there haven’t been any head coach hires for Getchell sports programs yet, and he will likely start posting those positions for Fall 2011 sports at the end of this season. That time line is likely to stay consistent for the following two seasons.

And as for the uniforms, Getchell will hold off until next year for those purchases.

“I think that is something that the new coaches will want to do,” said Erickson.

It makes no difference to the players, as they will make due with spending one more year in red and white.

“It’s not too weird,” said sophomore MG soccer player Haley Santana. “And we’re getting sweatshirts that say Getchell soccer on them anyway.”