Disclaimer - while this is going to probably sound like I'm lumping everyone together with my statements that is not my intention. I realize that this is going to sound like I'm criticizing all travel / showcase / whatever team but I feel the vast majority of these teams / coaches are good people doing it for the right reasons. I also realize that not all high school coaches are the best people either but once again I feel the vast majority of these teams / coaches are good people doing it for the right reasons. This rant is aimed at the ones who are not good and given the recent thread about why to play for a bad high school team it's a reason why high school sports are important and why there should be defined seasons where travel / showcase / etc... don't interfere with high school.
Ok so as Athletic Director I get to interact with all of our athletes to some degree. While I may not be able to tell you exactly what their name is I believe (hope) that they know I'm doing this job because I care about them - that they succeed and stay as healthy as possible. This morning in first period I'm talking to one of our cheerleaders who was just diagnosed with a concussion. In a week and a half our cheerleading team is going to compete in the state competition and with this girl being out it does hurt our chances. But injuries are part of sports and we need to deal with them because they happen......except this young lady didn't get hurt in the high school practice. She got hurt during a practice for her showcase team. So because she is doing something on the side during the high school season our chances of winning a state title have been severely hurt. Now before someone tries to counter with "you could get hurt crossing the street" (or some similar argument) let me just say that is true but if you only cross the street once a day the chances of getting hurt are very slim. Each time you cross that street the chances of getting hurt go up because you are putting yourself at risk more and more. Same with stuff like this - if it's just one sport / one season there is a chance to get hurt and always will be but when you're doing two sports / two seasons then the chances go up. While the injury aspect should be enough let me take it further. The other 14 girls who are on our team have just had their chance to win a state title go down because of this. How is that fair to them to lose a chance at a state title because of participating on an outside team?
Now the flip side to this is let's say she got the concussion during our practice. In this situation the showcase / travel team is now hurting their chances due to an athlete not being able to compete due to the two sports / two seasons concept. How is that fair to the other girls on THAT team?
Ok so I realize that school sports cannot dictate (overall but can to a degree) what parents and their kids do with their free time. I get it but I just have a hard time seeing the logic in it. But I accept this as the way things are and can function with it. Where I'm seriously ticked off is with the rest of the conversation I had with this cheerleader.
Due to the fact she has been diagnosed by a doctor that she has a concussion by NC state law she has to sit out of all high school athletic activities through the Gfeller / Waller Concussion Act. While this law can be frustrating at times I'm wholeheartedly in support of this law. Reason is it forces the responsibility away from the coaches and athletic directors on determining when an athlete is able to return to action and puts it on the doctors......where it should be. A coach / AD does not have the knowledge, training nor impartial judgement to make this decision and speaking for myself I don't want it even if they tried to give it to me. Kids would be put in harm's way due to a lack of experience or flat out negligence by following guidelines for return. Like I said I completely support this law and how it works because at the end of the day it has the best interest of the kids in mind. All schools in NC have to follow this.
So in my discussion with this cheerleader she tells me that practice was rough yesterday and gave her a headache. To be honest I almost lost my mind and was ready to fire my coach until she said it was at showcase practice. I asked if she told her showcase coach that she was concussed and she said yes. Then she says that coach took her off most everything except for catching girls who get thrown in the air. So I asked her isn't that how she got her concussion in the first place to which she said yes.
In the discussion she said she was afraid that if she sat out and not compete this coming weekend then she would be kicked off the team. At this point I start trying to explain to her how serious concussions are and that by continuing to participate she is possibly slowing down her recovery time and increasing the chance of it getting worse to the point she won't have any chance of getting cleared for the state competition. She said she really wanted to compete at the state competition and I told her there is no way I would let her compete if she's not cleared by a doctor although she is probably still going to compete this weekend for her showcase team.
I cannot express to you how fast I would fire one of my coaches and make a case to the county board of education as to why they should not be employed as a teacher if they did something like this. Like I said I truly believe / feel that the vast majority of coaches (high school and travel / showcase) are good people who want to do the right thing the ones who don't infuriate me. While a bad high school coach can ignore the rules to do whatever they want there still are rules and they will eventually get caught - but the fact there are rules is one reason why high school sports are important. Sadly travel / showcase do not have to follow any rules like high schools do so a coach can do almost whatever they want. But the key to player safety in either case - rules or no rules - is for the parents to do what is right for their kids. Ask questions, learn as much as you can and stick up for your kid because if the coach won't then who will.
So if you've made it this far I appreciate it and I do not want this to turn into a using the bathroom contest as to why one is better than the other. I just had to get this off my chest.