THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: April 17, 2014

Genesis Prep Academy, a private school in Post Falls and a member of the Mountain Christian League, has a vision of becoming a full member of the Idaho High School Activities Association, and likely a member of the class 1A North Star League as soon as the 2015-16 school year.

And the reaction from at least a couple North Star League teams - come on in!

Genesis Prep is an associate member of the IHSAA this year in golf (the Jaguars are fielding a boys team this spring). Next year, Genesis Prep will be an associate member in boys basketball. It also fields volleyball and girls basketball teams, and hopes be a full member of the IHSAA in all sports by 2015.

"Being a private school, there needs to be something to bring your students in," Genesis Prep athletic director Shella Brearley said. "Most kids, even in a private school, want to play in districts and state."

GENESIS PREP, a non-denominational Christian school which opened in 2006, has been playing other Christian schools in North Idaho, eastern Washington and western Montana. League tournaments mark the end of the season in Mountain Christian League sports.

By being an associate member of the IHSAA, the Jaguars can play other IHSAA schools (this spring, they play golf against the likes of St. Maries, Lakeside, Clark Fork, Wallace and others), but are not eligible to compete at districts or state.

To become a full member of the IHSAA, which would make Genesis Prep eligible for districts and state, the Jaguars will have to abide by IHSAA rules, which are a little different that those in the Mountain Christian League.

Such as: All the athletes must be enrolled in the school. Genesis Prep has no enrollment boundaries per se - its students come from Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene, Hayden, Rathdrum, etc., even a few from Spokane - so home-school students would no longer be able to play there.

In the MCL, eighth-graders can play in high school games. In the IHSAA, you have to be in grades 9-12. In the IHSAA, teams are limited to 20 regular-season games. In the MCL, teams often play well over 20.

And students at Classical Christian Academy in Post Falls, which only offers soccer, have been able to play for Genesis Prep in other sports. But that won't be allowed in the future under IHSAA rules.

GENESIS PREP, which rents space from Real Life Ministries in Post Falls for its school, and rents the Real Life gymnasium for its home games, has an enrollment of around 60 for grades 9-12. That figures to increase with its teams becoming IHSAA members.

1A Division II, the smallest of the six classifications in Idaho, is for schools with enrollments of 99 and fewer students in grades 9-12. 1A Division I is for enrollments between 100 and 159 students.

Beginning next year, 1A Division II schools in the North Star League will be Kootenai, Clark Fork and Mullan, and joined by Lakeside, which is dropping down from 1A Division I. That will leave Wallace as the lone NSL team in 1A Division I.

Genesis Prep has roughly 170 students in grades K-12, Brearley said. Adding a football program is not something that has been discussed as a possibility, at least "in the near future," Brearley said.

The Jaguars already have a boys basketball coach in place - Marsell Colbert, a Maryland native who played at North Idaho College and was later an assistant coach at NIC and Post Falls High School. Brearley has been familiar with him from his days coaching at the old Post Falls Christian Academy.

DOWN IN Moscow, Logos School has made a similar transition in recent years from the Mountain Christian League, and is now a full member of the IHSAA, playing in the Whitepine League in 1A Division II.

Brearley recently sent out feelers to area schools, and has already heard back from some, looking to schedule basketball games. The plan right now is for Genesis Prep to play basketball in the Mountain Christian League next year, with a mix of games vs. MCL and IHSAA teams.

"It (the addition of another team) would help strengthen our league," said Kootenai athletic director Doug Napierala, who also coaches the school's football and boys basketball teams.

One way it would help is lessen the chance the 1A Division II District 1 has to go the play-in route to get to state, and increase the chance the district champ advances directly to state.

And Genesis Prep wants to be competing for those district titles and state berths as soon as it can.

"We would love to become a full member (of the IHSAA) in two years, and if we work really hard, I think we can get there," Brearley said.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.