-Student-athletes at our local high schools have begun getting ready for the fall sports season. The football teams in Brattleboro and Bellows Falls began their practices on Aug. 10, while cross country, field hockey, and soccer will start practicing on Aug. 13.
It’s not just the athletes and coaches who are getting ready for a new year. Last month, the Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA), the governing body for school extracurricular activities, held their preseason meeting with athletic directors from around the state to review proposals and policy changes, for the 2026-27 school year.
Against a landscape of declining school enrollments and decreased participation in high school sports, the VPA is doing whatever it can to reverse this trend.
One initiative, called “No White Shorts,” is a VPA-backed and Vermont-born program addressing the barriers — uniform policy, product access, and education — that drive girls away from school sports.
According to the VPA’s research, 1 in 3 girls quit sports by age 14. They found 65% of menstruating athletes name leakage as their No. 1 sports concern and 6 in 10 girls say they fear playing a sport because of it.
“No White Shorts is built on a simple idea: Athletes should not have to worry about period leaks, visibility, embarrassment, or uniform anxiety while trying to compete,” wrote organizers at nowhiteshorts.org. “No athlete should have to choose between participating fully and feeling exposed.”
Changing the color of shorts and skirts is easy to do. Current Vermont policy allows field hockey, lacrosse, and basketball flexibility in uniform bottoms, as long as team apparel remains uniform and meet sport-specific requirements.
But this initiative goes beyond changing uniform colors. No White Shorts also recommends having licensed OB-GYNs, sports medicine physicians, and adolescent health specialists deliver four sessions per school year covering the menstrual cycle and athletic performance, products and symptom management, nutrition and iron status, and when to seek care.
The VPA got a $20,000 grant from the NFHS Foundation to create a reproducible No White Shorts program framework that is free for any state association, athletic director, or school across the U.S. to download and use.
Once again, Vermont leads the way, this time to help remove an often overlooked barrier to greater athletic participation by middle and high school age girls.
The Green Mountain State of soccer
• While bringing the FIFA World Cup tournament to North America this summer may have helped get more people interested in soccer around the U.S., there is one place that didn’t need the extra bump of attention.
In the space of about 20 months, the largest city in the second smallest state in the U.S. showed it is a growing hub of soccer. Burlington is home to the Vermont Green FC men’s and women’s soccer teams, both of which made it to the championship matches of their respective leagues in the United Soccer League (USL).
For the second straight year, the Green were undefeated in the men’s USL League Two, defeating the Flint City (Michigan) Bucks, 2-1. on Aug. 1.
The Vermont Green women, playing in their debut season in the USL W-League, made it all the way to the championship game, where they lost 5-4 on penalty kicks to Salmon Bay in Seattle.
Both teams played to sell-out crowds of 2,700 all season for their home matches at Virtue Field in Burlington and both teams had several Vermonters on the roster who had played high school and/or college soccer here.
USL League Two and the W-League are development leagues designed to hone the skills of college players aspiring to play in professional squads here and abroad, and to also deepen the talent pool for the U.S. national teams. For young men and women who have talent and hope to play beyond high school and college, it’s a great opportunity.
Both Green teams will be back in action next May at Virtue Field for the 2027 season to add another chapter to the story of soccer success in Vermont. To learn more about the USL and its leagues, go to uslsoccer.com.
Brattleboro Little League 10U All-Stars begin regional tournament play
• Now that the Brattleboro Little League 10U All-Stars have won the program’s first-ever state championship, they advanced to the Little League Baseball East Region 10U Invitational Tournament, which began Aug. 8. in Cranston, Rhode Island.
However, as Little League families know too well, postseason play can be costly, so a GoFundMe drive has begun to help offset the costs for families, including hotel rooms, meals, and travel expenses.
“We want every player to be able to participate fully, without financial burdens holding them back,” wrote the organizers of the GoFundMe drive, “Your support will make a real difference for these kids, allowing them to experience this truly once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Organizers have set a goal of $10,000. To learn more, and to donate, visit gofundme.com/f/support-brattleboro-10u-allstars-journey-to-regionals.
Peloso, Hall earn Legion tournament honors
• Two members of the Brattleboro Post 5 that reached the semifinals of the recently completed Vermont American Legion Baseball tournament,were honored for their play during the competition.
Outfielder–pitcher Ryan Peloso and catcher–utility player Kmar Hall were selected to the all-tournament team. Peloso and Hall had a number of standout performances during the tournament. In Post 5’s opening win over Addison County Post 19 on July 25, Hall went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored, while Peloso went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs scored.
In Post 5’s loss to Lyndon Post 30 on July 26, Peloso scored two runs with an RBI, while Hall had a run scored as well. Both players performed well in a July 27 elimination game victory against Franklin County Post 1. Peloso went 3-for-5 with four RBIs and a run scored, while Hall was 1-for-3 with two runs scored.
While Post 5 fell to Essex Post 91, the eventual state champion, in the semifinal the next day, it did not diminish the contributions Peloso and Hall made in Brattleboro’s strong run through the state tournament. Post 5 hopes to continue that momentum next season.
Registration for fall Recreation & Parks Department programs begins
• Registration for fall activities at Brattleboro Recreation & Parks Department has begun. Offerings include youth soccer, field hockey, gymnastics, and chess.
A $10 late fee will be charged starting Friday, Aug. 28. Anyone registering on or after Sept. 4 must register in person at the Gibson-Aiken Center main office to be added to a waitlist and will be permitted to register for the program only if space allows.
Individuals can register online at vtbrattleboroweb.myvscloud.com/webtrac/web, or in person Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the Gibson-Aiken Center until program space is full.
For all programs, events, facility information, and more, visit their website at brattleboro.gov. Once you are on the page, hover over the “Departments” tab on the blue horizontal bar. A new drop-down menu will appear and click “Recreation & Parks.” For more information, call the Gibson-Aiken office at 802-254-5808.
Red Sox return to local radio
• In what was a stroke of bad timing for area Red Sox fans who still listen to games on the radio, Windham County was left without a local Red Sox affiliate when Community Media, owner of WEEY-FM 93.5 in Keene, purchased the station earlier this year and changed its format. Instead of rebroadcasting the all-sports programming of WEEI in Boston, WEEY switched to country music in June.
The format change happened just as the Red Sox began a historic winning streak that propelled them from being the worst team in the American League to playoff contenders in the span of six weeks.
But relief has come for local listeners. According to The Keene Sentinel, the Monadnock Radio Group has picked up the rights to Red Sox broadcasts and will air them on Brattleboro’s WKVT-FM 92.7 for the remainder of the 2026 season. They have not made a decision on whether WKVT will carry the rest of WEEY’s former sports programming.
If you can’t get WKVT-FM, depending on where you live in Windham County and how good your radio is, you can pick up the Boston area flagship frequency of WEEI at 93.7 FM, or their satellite station in Springfield, Massachusetts, WWEI, at 105.5 FM. Where I live in Dummerston, at 1,200 feet elevation, I can pick up the 93.7 FM signal if I position my radio in the right spot. The 105.5 FM signal comes in best from Brattleboro southward, particularly if you’re driving on Interstate 91.
WTIC’s 50,000 watt signal on 1080 AM out of Hartford, Connnecticut, comes in well after sundown in most locations, and if you are in northern Windham County, WCFR in Springfield, Vermont, at 1480 AM, is another option.
Otherwise, if you don’t have a good radio, or reliable internet or cell service so you can stream the games, you’re out of luck. Such is the lot of a baseball fan who prefers to listen to games on the radio.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 14 of the spring/summer season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League Aug. 6 at Brattleboro Bowl saw Pin Heads (45-25) have a 5-0 week to take over first place, while Queen ‘n’ Jokers and The House (both 42-28) are now tied for second, followed by Skippers and Ducks (both 37-33), Near Miss (31-39), Team Two and Number 1 (both 30-49), and Slo Movers and Strike Force (both 28-42),
Diane Miller had the women’s high handicap game (275) and series (674), while Milt Sherman had the men’s high handicap game (279) and series (673). Ducks had the high handicap game (861) and The House had the high handicap series (2,524).
Kevin Napaver once again had the men’s high scratch series (740) with games of 277, 266, and 197, while Robert Rigby had a 646 series with games of 256, and 212. Milt Sherman had a 580 series with games of 248 and 197, Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 552 series with a 212 game, Stan Kolpa had a 532 series with a 189 game, and Gary Montgomery had a 509 series with games of 189 and 182.
Shirley Aiken had the women’s high scratch series (456) and Miller had the high scratch game (185). Notable games included Aiken (180), Darlene Ladabouche (168), and Carol Gloski (160).
Randolph T. Holhut, deputy editor of this newspaper, has written this column since 2010 and has covered sports in Windham County since the 1980s. Readers can send him sports information at news@commonsnews.org.
This Sports column by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.