In 2018 Piqua, Greenville, Sidney, Tipp City, Troy, Butler, Stebbins, Xenia, Fairborn, and West Carrollton unanimously voted to leave GWOC (Greater Western Ohio Conference) and reform the MVL (Miami Valley League). So far the league has done well with many teams being successful on a state level in multiple different sports. West Carrollton tends to be toward the bottom of the MVL in most of the seasonal sports. The general consensus of most of the MVL teams is that the shift has been good for their schools. However, I wanted to see how the athletes of West Carrollton think about the shift.

First, I interviewed senior boys tennis player, Seth Bernal. When asked how the MVL stacked up to other conferences in Ohio, he said, “Only certain teams are able to compete with other Ohio conferences such as Tipp (Tippecanoe) and Troy,”. “We couldn’t compete with the other teams and we aren’t as big as the other schools,”. This answer is almost universally recognized by the athletes of West Carrollton. Every person I asked about this said, West Carrollton left because we were too small of a school or that we just couldn’t compete with the other GWOC schools. 

There have been multiple reasons on why the GWOC separated other than West Carrollton being less competitive, such as greatly simplifying the roster for all teams involved. 

Next, I spoke to senior boys soccer player Tommy Haught. When I asked, “‘Which conference do you think is better, GWOC or MVL?”’ He responded, “GWOC, based on their overall pool of talent, the opportunities that they give their athletes with education and college chances, and just how big their schools are,”. Like the last question, everyone generally responded like this. The con in most of the MVL schools is that GWOC is the better conference. They tend to have better players and better teams. This viewpoint is also the majority of the athletes of West Carrollton. When I asked, how do you feel about the MVL conference? “I feel it’s better for our school and athletes. It helps us play against teams that are on our level which gives good players an opportunity to shine. Whereas if we were in GWOC still we wouldn’t be able to perform as well”. If you look at the statistics of the MVL players, many of the player’s stats have improved since the MVL teams left GWOC. Also, players seen as average in GWOC have shown that they can be college-level athletes without the shine of the bigger and better schools. 

When asked how she thought the split affected her team, senior volleyball player, Tanner Gates said, “The split made our team better, we don’t have to play the schools that are much bigger and better than the MVL’s smaller schools”. These athletes tend to have the same answers. All of them say that the MVL has made their team better and has given them a better opportunity to succeed and win. 

Overall, the split from the MVL has helped West Carrollton athletics. It has helped athletes shine more and get better opportunities. It has also helped programs grow and succeed. I believe the switch was so that West Carrolton and other MVL school athletes get to compete against teams more on their level. It creates a more fair environment for the athletes and schools.