Football teams at Fort Campbell and Fort Knox high schools were sidelined Friday by the federal government shutdown, which has paused extracurricular activities at the schools for military families.
The schools on the historic Army posts remain open for normal instructional activities, but the congressional stalemate has left the students and their families in limbo when it comes to other school-related pursuits. Fort Knox is in central Kentucky while Fort Campbell straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee border.
Both football teams were scheduled to play Friday but their games were postponed. But the halt to extracurricular activities — even practices — applies to much more than football.
The Fort Campbell High girls volleyball team was on a historic run, having compiled an 11-2 record for a school without a winning season for 15 years in the sport. The squad’s senior night game was called off Thursday and two other upcoming games could be as well if the federal shutdown continues.
Mary Hughes, the volleyball team’s coach, said Friday that her players have shown “so much grit and tenacity” but for now have no control over how their season ends up.
“Everyone’s just really sad,” she said. “Life as a military child is hard enough. They deal with so much and sports is one aspect of their lives that is so important to them. Gives them self-esteem, confidence, teamwork. And for that to be taken away just because we live on the post … is just incredibly unfair.”
Bianca Carolina said she’s saddened that her son’s football team at Fort Campbell High had to postpone its game. She said she’s concerned the shutdown could drag on, affecting the rest of the season. Her son, Jaeden, began practicing for the season back in January.
Fort Campbell’s football team was scheduled to play Trigg County, Kentucky, on Friday, but that game was rescheduled to Oct. 30, Trigg County High School athletics director Doug Gloyd said Friday.
“It’s very disheartening, but I’m grateful and thankful they were able to reschedule,” Carolina said. “They put a lot of time into football season.”
Carolina, 36, works on post at Fort Campbell and is currently furloughed during the shutdown.
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell has intervened in the matter. The Republican senator wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday, asking that athletics and extracurriculars at the schools be designated as activities allowed to proceed despite the shutdown.
Jerry Gilliam, the judge-executive in Christian County, Kentucky, which includes a portion of Fort Campbell, was among those who asked McConnell to get involved.
“These young people already carry unique burdens as sons and daughters of U.S. servicemembers, and this additional barrier only deepens their sacrifice,” Gilliam said in writing to McConnell.
The shutdown has disrupted sports at other military post high schools, including Camp Lejeune’s high school football team in North Carolina. Camp Lejeune’s host this week, Northside High School, moved up their homecoming game to be played Tuesday, before the shutdown took effect Wednesday.
The Department of Defense Education Activity, known as DoDEA, manages prekindergarten through 12th grade educational programs for the Department of Defense. It said Friday that its schools will remain open for normal instructional operations during the government shutdown.
“However, sporting events, sports practices and all extracurricular activities are not considered excepted activities during a lapse in appropriations,” it said in a statement. “As a result, these activities, including those held outside of the school day, will remain paused for the duration of the shutdown.”
