As a native of Indianola, I can tell you both sides. Since Indianola has dropped to the Litte Hawkeye I've noticed a definite change in attitude towards sports. They are fielding better teams and better athletes. It's fun for kids again. We had no business playing against the Ankeny, Dowling, Valley's of the word with about 1/2 of the enrollment and a 1/4th of the budget. No one went to games, and there as never any excitement around the programs. No one wants to go out and get their ***** kicked every night.
Now for some reason I really can't understand, they still "play up" come state tournament time. So they spend the majority of their year playing 3A competition, only to go up against 4A teams for the tournament. That's logic I can't understand.