As a majority of Wareham High’s athletic teams continue to lose more often than they win, officials are looking for ways to reverse the recent trend.

“We’ve had some struggles with our athletic teams,” said Athletic Director Ed Rodrigues at Wednesday’s School Committee meeting. “Grade point averages were very good, but (the losing is) disappointing. We’ve had all the coaches reapply for their jobs. That’s part of the issue, but it’s not the main issue. We’re hoping that it gets better.”

Both Rodrigues and Wareham High Principal Scott Palladino pointed to economic circumstances as being a key reason teams struggle in town. The Viking teams went 6-1-90 collectively in the fall, though the winter season should see better numbers.

“The largest issue we deal with … is we’re competing with folks who have students playing not at the local youth level, but at the elite level, the travel level, the club level,” said Palladino. “So we may have the competitive youth sports in town, but in the big picture, they’re not really competitive at the state level.”

“That’s the competitive advantage that we don’t have,” he added. “These parents are paying thousands and thousands of dollars and traveling all over the state. To be competitive, that’s what’s needed — time and money. And it’s very difficult for our demographics to compete with that.”

Another issue both pointed to is the district is losing kids to places like Old Rochester, Bishop Stang, and Upper Cape, further hindering the teams.

Committee member Rhonda Veugen suggested further connecting high school athletes to local youth sports programs, and fostering feeder systems at the elementary and middle school levels.

One thing Rodrigues and Palladino pointed to was that teams have been getting eighth grade waivers to allow middle schoolers to compete at the high school level. For the winter, Rodrigues said he was granted waivers for every sport.

“Ed’s done a great job with the eighth grade waivers,” said Palladino. “We will be back up to where we were. People just need to be patient. We need to get kids involved with club levels.”

On the academic side, Wareham’s fall athletes averaged an 88.2 in the classroom, with the girls soccer team averaging a 92.4, the highest among the seven fall teams.

“That’s an extraordinary achievement,” said committee chair Geoff Swett. “The parents have to know their is a correlation between the two.”

Swett said that as a coach of the tennis team, he tries to get students to play in the offseason, but often times, they are unavailable.

“Our kids are pulled in many, many directions including academics and employment,” he said.

Rodrigues said he’s aiming to start a program where high school athletes go to the town’s elementary schools to eat, play with, and teach the students the respective sports.

“I want to see if we can get the connection of being a Viking going from the third or fourth grade,” he said. “That’s a connection we can make.”

“The economic and social systems are working against us,” said committee member Dr. Clifford Sylvia. “There’s no easy answer. If you’re going to pursue sports, it’s very expensive.”

“If you look at the places that are winning championships, it’s the rich towns,

said Palladino. “A lot of these kids can’t afford it.”