LAKEVILLE - There is excitement in the air! As the 2024-25 school year gets started, that also means that fall sports are right around the corner. Student-athletes have been working this summer in preparation for the coming year. For LaVille and five other northern Indiana schools, the excitement comes via the newly created Indiana Northern State Conference (INSC). The Lancers will be joined by Bremen, Jimtown, John Glenn, Knox, and Tippecanoe Valley. And as the INSC begins, each athletic director has been busy over the last year-plus scheduling events, including conference championships. "The INSC ADs created the scheduling models for each sport and each school came up with a conference schedule for the sports for which they were assigned based on those models," said LaVille athletic director Will Hostrawser. "All schedules were constructed out for 4 years with the understanding they can be adjusted if necessary. Putting together the INSC schedules was not particularly challenging or any kind of achievement - it was just doing what we do as ADs." Each team will play 5 conference games in football, girls basketball, and boys basketball. Other sports, like baseball, softball, and volleyball will play a home-and-home series throughout the season. A bright spot for the Lancer girls soccer team will be the opportunity to be part of a conference again. Five of the programs are planning to have girls soccer in 2024. There will also be four INSC teams in boys soccer. Both genders will also have an INSC tournament. The event is scheduled for September 28 at Newton Park. We had a chance to ask Hostrawser about advantages to this new conference, rivalries. a conference logo, and a conference website. "There are numerous advantages of being a part of this conference; among others there is a view that surfaces right away," explained the LaVille AD. "(1) LaVille is now the center point geographically and that means shorter trips for everyone - (2) elevated competition better preparing our teams for the state tournament - (3) better flexibility for non-conference scheduling in every sport - (4) increased crowds at our home events - (5) the opportunity for our coaches to suggest adjustments to sports by-laws annually - (6) having a direct say in potential opportunities for conference growth. "No conference logo has been established as of yet - there is no established timeline to do so. We are all more interested in getting the INSC off the ground. The conference has chosen not to have a website for the time being - all schools have agreed to promote the conference collectively." As for the rivalries, "LaVille and legendary AD Dale Cox were one of the founding members of the original Northern State Conference (NSC) back in the day. Regrouping these geographically close schools does renew some old historical rivals and puts a little more on the line each time we face each other. I look forward to being a part of that!" LaVille was part of the NSC for 49 years before Culver, Knox, Triton, and the Lancers joined the Hoosier North Athletic Conference. Bremen, Jimtown, John Glenn, and New Prairie all joined the Northern Indiana Athletic Conference. In 2023, six schools decided to leave their current conferences and join a reformed Northern State Conference. Knox and LaVille from the Hoosier North Athletic Conference announced that they would be leaving. Bremen, Jimtown, and John Glenn from the Northern Indiana Athletic Conference, and Tippecanoe Valley from the Three Rivers Conference would all be joining the INSC. Game On . . .