VHSL Grade eligibility

2.0

but if you got to ask is your son having issues.

Go to VHL web site...

From the VHSL Handbook:

28A-5-1 SCHOLARSHIP RULE-The student shall:

(a) For the first semester be currently enrolled in not fewer than five subjects, or their

equivalent, offered for credit and which may be used for graduation; and have passed five

subjects, or their equivalent, offered for credit and which may be used for graduation the

immediately preceding year or the immediately preceding semester for schools that certify

credit on a semester basis; and

(b) For the second semester be currently enrolled in not fewer than five subjects, or

their equivalent, offered for credit and which may be used for graduation; and have passed

five subjects, or their equivalent, offered for credit and which may be used for graduation the

immediately preceding semester.

Note: Credit for courses must be recognized by the State Department of Education.  Such credit is to be awarded for the semester in which the work is scheduled to be completed. Credit for summer school work must be applied on the immediately preceding semester or year.

In addition to what Swampboy posted:

At our HS, prior to tryouts the student must turn in a physical to the AD to obtain a yellow card which is then completed by the student and parents and finally turned into the coach.  Prior to issuing the yellow card the AD will check the student's grade eligibility.  If the student is not grade eligible the AD will not issue the card to the student.

At least that's how it worked when my son played HS baseball.

The current VHSL manual is available in pdf format on the VHSL website.  Just google VHSL.

interesting, this is not my son but a teammate.  Some seniors in our school do not take 5 courses a day, 3 or less.  Does that make a difference?  We do not use the 2.0 rule - 5 classes 1 F is okay, 3 classes zero Fs  or you do not play.  Maybe coaches should have a higher standard and not let players start unless they have a 3.0 or better.

Why do you worry about your son, you have no idea what your friends issues are.

Maybe the parents should have a higher standard. What college will take players with a 2.0?

Virginia Wesleyan will take anyone, as long as they can pay that god awful tution rate!!!!

Beware also that there have been a few localities that have imposed requirements in excess of VHSL rules.  Henrico and Chesterfield, possibly others.

So did your friends kid make the team with his 2.whatever GPA

He is not playing and is very a nice young man, excellent ball player.   Like most kids in HS, he got lost and behind in the academic world and one day it all catches up , usually during the senior year.  Maybe a higher requirement to play would motivate these players?  You need a "C" or better to start no matter how good of an athlete you are. 

I think it is interesting that some of these posts are based on the assumption that all C students are underperforming in class.  It could be their busting their butts to get C's in classes.  Last time I check a C grade was average.  Do I promote average no but I think a C average as a MINIMUM threshold to participate in sports is appropriate.  If you think I posting this because I was one of these students your wrong...but a number of my HS teammates in multiple sports were C students who worked hard in class and a primary reason why they weren't D students is because of sports.  Another comment was about what college takes a 2.0 player.  This assumes that the only players who should play HS baseball are those who are qualified to play college baseball both academically and talent-wise.  This is absurd based on the number of HS players who do not play in college.

Well the standards are lower now a days over all, I think a 65 is a C now, when I went to school below a 65 was a F. (95-100 A, 85-94 was a B, 75-84 was a C, 65-74 was a D)

Ridiculous, no wonder our Country is lagging behind 

I agree the scores have dropped...but in our county it's not at the level you indicated (77 is the lowest C).  Either way, it's hard to know if the teachers haven't increased the difficulty of work to earn these scores as the scale has dropped. 

First I've heard the grading scale is the cause of our problems...seems like a quick fix if that was the case.

No child left behind....Show Up 160 of 180 School days, don't be late for another 30, don't get in a fight...get a HS diploma.

Grades... no worries we'll make it fit. 

Went to a HS graduation in 2012 and it was about 500 kids and 250-300 graduated with "Honors".  The valedictorian had a 4.52 GPA.  So her average grade for every assignment for 4 years of HS was 113 based on a 4.0 grade scale.  I was befuddled. 

Another word I'd bet 80%+ of 2014 HS Sr. can't spell and define.  I am thinking many would guess it is a sugary Peanut Brittle type snack or something along those lines.

But that other 20% will save the country.  I really believe that, they are smart, hard working talented kids.  It is the way it has always been. 

This is a great conversation and I am glad I started the dialog.  We (and when I say we - parents, school, coaches, teachers and the state of VA, etc) are allowing students to play sports with to low of academic standards.  We should have a  higher eligibility standard and starting line up standard.  

I disagree.  Some kids are just not geniuses.  NCAA has minimums that are pretty low really, and that is there primarily to prevent colleges from totally debasing themselves in the pursuit of sports objectives, not directly out of concern for the students.

I don't think a kid ought to have to meet some special standard to step on a high school ball field.  If he's a student in good standing, that's enough for me. 

Bear in mind there may be some kids out there who might not show up to school at all on any given day were it not for the opportunity to play.  And we need to keep those kids motivated.  It's tough enough out there with just a HS diploma on your resume; imagine not having even that?  There are still a lot of kids out there who don't.

I would add that my own kids were very high level students, and that was an expectation we set in our family.  Not everyone has that going for them, though, and to kick them off teams is, in my estimation, making things worse, not better.

I can’t remember his name (Ward maybe) but  4 or 5 years ago there was a P who was the real deal. Played at Hickory.

Went to many showcases and think he was going to play for Miami U. Was most likely going to be a MLB P. His Sr. year right before the SE Tournament grades game out. He had like a 1.8 or something low. Was not able to play.  Could not go to college on his ride. MLB even stepped back. Think he went to a JR College.  Anyone know what happened to him?

Where was the Coach?

Where were the Parents?

STUDY STUDY STUDY

Our schools are a mess no doubt. My youngest(13) told me that he wants to play BB outside of the country and when on to say, somewhere like Hawaii, no joking. In his defense we lived in Canada for his first 8 yrs of life and maybe missed that block of info, ha,ha. On a serious note the US system, from what I have experienced 1st hand, is far less condussive to learning than Canada's. Here they do worksheets and memorization; Canada they teach kids to rationalize and develope thought process instead of regurgitation. The hardest thing for my kids to get used to was only having gym oncea week and only one recess per day. The hardest thing for my wife and I was having limited access to the school and teachers. In contrast, we were alloweed to wait outside our kids classroom to pick them up and speak to the teacher if needed everyday.

Gary Ward, Lefty with 90+.  That team also had Brett Harris who is at ODU and has had arm issues.  Might have been the best lefty/righty pitching tandem in the southside for a long way back.  Cox/Ingram at Grassfield about 3 years ago was close.

Guys, that's really great that a young man's GPA gets posted on this site!!  Yes, this is a sarcastic remark...seems ironic that on this topic there's a lack of common sense being exercised!! 

Midio Dad - I respect your disagreement but I would add something my father told me when I was playing;  "what happens when you arm goes out, you need to study".  I agree we cannot lose these students but rather help prepare them to handle a college academic program.  We are giving these students false hopes by selling the idea of playing in a college program when they are barely passing HS.  We set a high standard of a hitter and/or pitcher to be a starter then why wouldn't we include a higher academic standard. VHSL set the standard at 2.0, why not 3.0? Don't you think students would adapt?   

I also agree that education is important.  That is point number one.

But short of getting into a deep socioeconomic discussion...suggesting that all students should get a 3.0 in order to play, and "adapt", is based on a false assumption that all students are capable of a 3.0.

That is no different than suggesting that all working men and women are capable of being the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.  Surely they all have the same opportunity!!!!  They all have the same skill set!!!  Surely they can adapt!

Uh...no.  With genuine respect to all walks of life...there is a reason that someone raises the cows, someone kills the cows, someone else prepares the meat, someone else flips the burgers, someone else manages the restaurant, someone else manages the manager, and so on.  It takes all kinds!!!!

Our education system is simply a reflection of economic mobility, or a lack thereof.

Having said all of that, I do think there are plenty of things wrong with today's system, and much can be improved upon.

Because for one thing not all HS athletes go to college.  Do we really want to limit HS sports to college prep students?  The underachievers will adapt if they want to play but again that assumes that all of these kids are underachievers.  In addition, how many players would participate if it was a certainty they would never start because their GPA was below 3.0.  3.0 is the level for All-Academic.  Some HS teams' entire roster are all-academic and other high schools may not have enough to field a team if 3.0 was the criteria.  I'm all for students working to earn the best grades that are within their reach and I believe we as parents need to instill this in our children.  I also believe it's just not up to the school to educate our children...so to the individual who commented about Hawaii not being in the U.S., that says more about your involvement in educating your child as it does the school system.

I hear your point.  It is one of those things that cuts both ways....when everyone knows what your plans are around scholarship offers (this board certainly celebrates those) and something happens to change that...everyone finds out about that too.  Also hard to keep it much of a secret if you get dumped off the team for grades, especially if you are the star player.

VHSL does not specifically set a minimum standard of a 2.0 GPA.  It states how many subjects the student must have a passing grade in the previous semester.

Schools are free to impose higher standards (a 2.0 GPA for example) as noted in a previous post. 

At one time the local middle school principal imposed a higher standard than that stipulated by VHSL.  Under VHSL a student could have failed one subject and still be eligible to participate in JV level teams.  The principal raised the standard such that if a student had one or more failing grades, he/she was ineligible to participate.

Just to be clear, the elimination of the 2.0 student from participation in HS sports seems to serve the higher socioeconomic player with less competition. If a student decides attend college, GREAT, if not GREAT.  This is HS sports, not a college application.

Also, I know a 2.0 student with a 1100 SAT.  Seems like a waste of time at school, but not all kids are motivated until the education switch turns on.

If we apply these exclusionary standards to sports, then:

Does the show choir exclude the bad student?

Can your sub-par student be in the school play?

Can he run for student council?

Can he join the French Club?

I mean, is your student at the school, or not?  Is he/she allowed to participate in what the school does, or not?

What I don't understand is why we have all these rules for sports that don't apply to everyone else.  It's great to give lip service to high standards, but I have to admit I agree with the comment above, sometimes it just seems like whining from the parents whose kid got beat out by a kid who may not be the sharpest knife.

My rule would be, if you meet the tests to be at the school, then you meet the tests to participate in what the school does, with very few exceptions.  Whether you take maximum advantage of what the school offers for your future or don't is your problem -- or perhaps something your parents get to decide for you.  I can see saying if you're not in good standing or not on track to graduate, then you should have to forgo extracurriculars and channel your energies into academics until you are back on track at least.  And I can see excluding someone for disciplinary reasons, too.

But the rest of this, IMHO, is condescension and snobbishness masquerading as concern for others' welfare.

Ask yourself this question:  If a kid has a learning disability and he has to work ten times as hard as others just to get by, does he get to play sports?

Or does your concern for his welfare deny him that because his grades fall short?

Midlo - I agree with you on the entire concept of student in good standing - let them play. 

However, I would suggest that there can be a very big difference between the French club and the sports team in the stakes involved.  For a small percentage of these kids they are being taken advantage of for their athletic skill - there are too many functionally illiterate kids at colleges playing sports.  I doubt that is an issue in the French club membership scroll.  So there is why the rules exist IMO.

To deal with that opens another can of worms - which is perhaps the most reprehensible organization in the US today... the NCAA.