Glue and Grace
October 9, 2012
Recent events, obvious to you, caused me to return to an article the MHSAA published in August of 1999. Here it is again:
Three days after the tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, a retired athletic administrator whom I respect greatly and listened to intently, called me to say this:
“You have an opportunity to speak to student-athletes in this state and across the country. Talk to them about Littleton.”
This administrator wanted me to convey to athletes that they were not a part of the many and complex causes of the Columbine carnage, but they play a small part of the solution to help assure such craziness doesn’t occur closer to home.
The administrator was referencing some of the media reports that suggested the youthful killers took offense to the “jocks.” Valid or not, these suggestions provide another wake-up call for those who claim that school-sponsored sports are healthy for the participants, school and community.
As a result, part of my conversations with student-athletes this year and the heart of my message to team captains in 1999-00, will be this:
-
Break down the walls, real or perceived, between the athletes of your schools and other students. Avoid cliques limited to team members or even athletes in general.
-
When you walk the school halls and shopping malls, greet fellow students warmly, regardless of their involvement in school sports or other activities. Let them know that you know they exist.
-
Become more sensitive to the needs of others, especially those who are different than you. Appreciate that while you may be more gifted in some things, other students are more gifted in other things. Show a genuine interest in those things.
-
Understand that you are not the center of the universe. Accept that it is your role to serve others, and not the other way around.
-
Don’t condescend, but concentrate on the rich worth of other people. Seek them out. Involve them. Enter into their worlds and invite them into yours until such time as it is difficult to recognize different worlds in your school and community.
I believe this goal for the interscholastic athletic program, embraced by every administrator, participant and parent, would help us: That every participant be involved in academic and non-academic matters, athletic and non-athletic activities, be a star in one thing and a substitute in another, be on stage and backstage, in solo and ensemble, experiencing both winning and losing.
A student involved in such an experience as this could not help but provide glue and grace to a student body.
No student-athlete anywhere is remotely responsible for the massacre in Littleton, Colorado. But student-athletes everywhere have an opportunity to be a small part of an environment that assures such a tragedy is not repeated where they live, study and play. Talk to them.
The Fourth Option
February 27, 2018
Throughout the years, schools of this and every other state have identified problems relating to school transfers. There is recruitment of athletes and undue influence. There is school shopping by families for athletic reasons. There is jumping by students from one school to another for athletic reasons because they couldn’t get along with a coach or saw a greater opportunity to play at another school or to win a championship there. There is the bumping of students off a team or out of a starting lineup by incoming transfers, which often outrages local residents. There is the concentration of talent on one team by athletic-motivated transfers. There is friction between schools as one becomes the traditional choice for students who specialize in a particular sport. There is imbalance in competition as a result. And there is always the concern that the athletic-motivated transfer simply puts athletics above academics, which is inappropriate in educational athletics.
All states have developed rules to address the problems related to school transfers. In some states, it is called a “transfer rule” and in other states a “residency rule,” because linking school attendance to residence is one of the most effective tools for controlling eligibility of transfers. None of the state high school association rules is identical, but all have the intention of helping to prevent recruiting, school shopping, student bumping, team friction, competitive imbalance and sports overemphasis. The goal of promoting fairness in athletic competition and the perspective that students must go to school first for an education and only secondarily to participate in interscholastic athletics is paramount.
The transfer/residency rule is a legally and historically tested but still imperfect tool to control athletic-motivated transfers and other abuses. It is a net which catches some students it should not, and misses some students that should not be eligible. This is why all state high school associations have procedures to review individual cases and grant exceptions; and why all state high school associations have procedures to investigate allegations and to penalize violations where they are confirmed.
Over the years, state high school associations have considered four options to handle transfers. The first two options are the easiest courses: either (1) let schools decide themselves about transfers, as Michigan once did, but this leads to inconsistent applications and few states now subscribe to such an approach; or (2) make no exceptions at all, rendering all transfer students ineligible for a period of time, but this becomes patently unfair for some students and no state high school association subscribes to that extreme, although it would be easy to administer.
The third option – the ideal approach, perhaps – would be to investigate the motivation of every transfer and allow quicker eligibility or subvarsity eligibility to those which are not motivated by athletics, but this is very time consuming if not impossible to administer. No state high school association has sufficient staff and money to consider every detail and devious motive of every transfer.
This is why a fourth option has been most popular with most state high school associations. This is a middle ground which stipulates a basic rule, some exceptions (we have 15 exceptions in Michigan), and procedures to consider and grant waivers – a primary role of the Michigan High School Athletic Association Executive Committee.