Catholic Online Forum

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Bob C

I think litigation over sports injuries will be the end of HS sports, at least high impact sports like football and hockey.

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David L (CA)
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx

The article is lacking in detail. But this has the potential to run amok in absolutely ridiculous ways. It will all depend on what this requirement entails. "Visual queue" for a track starter, for instance, is reasonable (although the writer should realize that the gun itself already provides the visual cue by the smoke it emits, and the timers already rely on the smoke from the gun, not the sound). Mandating a wheelchair basketball team (or any other team) when there aren't enough students with disabilities at a school (let alone enough interested in sports) to form a team would be ridiculous.

But I could see schools getting out of sports altogether, and everything going to clubs, rather than schools having to wade through the onerous possibilities, depending on how far-reaching this is going to be. And then you would see participation drop, because club-anything is very expensive.

Just more stupid government overreach.

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Dean
Most people's sense of history goes back to breakfast time - Benjamin Netanyahu

Oh does it ever



The High School my boys attended, did not always have enough text books for all of the students in some classes, thus they could not be taken home and used for study (nor reviewed by a parent...but that is another discussion). So they should take more needed money for education and spend it on unnecessary sports?



Remember it takes a village

I don't want to sound insensitive to those persons who are disabled, my nephew has Downs, he is now out of school and gainfully employed, he had many opportunities to participate in Athletics Special Olympics, he swam on a club team as did both his brothers, I think he played baseball....he should have wrestled he is as strong as an ox. He's a wonderful person.

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Bob C

Isn't insurance and parental waivers of liability required in California, they are in Florida.

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Bob C

It would be nice to have more information on the subject. Obviously some disabilities and some sports just won't mess. You can't play football or hockey if you are blind. Special equipment on the field or court could be dangerous.

Sports at high school level are pretty competitive around here and I think people would not want to loose that aspect of sports.

It's hard to picture someone in a wheelchair or someone who walks with crutches/poor coordination in any contact sport and if I had a child with a disability I wouldn't want to risk injuries. Adaptive sports would be fine and most likely I'd be more apt to look for some type of adaptive sports activities that the child could enjoy and excel at if he/she was interested.

My non-disabled child and a few of her friends played volleyball in grade school, but they had no chance to pay it in high school since they are on the shorter side. It wasn't a disability they just would not make it a try out. All the high school teams have really tall girls, the taller the better.

A lot of the schools have gone to pay to play for sports already I wonder how that would work, would the parents of a disabled child have to pay for special equipment, etc or does the school have to pay? I would rather see money spent on education...

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Judas was the first to leave mass early

As awards go up the cost of insurance can become prohibitive. Lawyers can find their way around waivers.

==> La Salle Settles Lawsuit With Injured Player for $7.5 Million

==> Junior Seau Brain Injury Suit

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David L (CA)
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx

Sports is pretty competitive around here but Football is king. I had to pay about $400 ayear for my son to play Varsity Baseball, had he played Football all it would have cost is whatever the insurance is.

Personally I think all extracurricular activities at all levels of schools should be a play for pay.

The article in the morning paper was much better then the one I found on line.

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Bob C

David,

Neither of those are HS Injuries.

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Bob C

No, but I think they represent a trend. I heard it suggested today that Junior Seau's family might consider widening their suit to include entities he played for prior to the NFL. Presumably that could include college and HS.

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David L (CA)
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx

Bob C,



Could you explain what that means?

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Valerie Garcia
vals1990@yahoo.com

"Listen, O my son, to the precepts of thy master, and incline the ear of thy heart, and cheerfully receive and faithfully execute the admonitions of thy loving Father, that by the toil of obedience thou mayest return to Him ....." St. Benedict

Will this be the end of Sports in High Schools? Yes, if the Utopian nonsense is allowed to continue to its ultimate conclusion.

Let me add that in my opinion, the States should tell the Federal government to pack sand. This is but another overreach by the Obama administration which seems intent upon the destruction of all things American.

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Daniel

"Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." -- Luke 12:51

I ran track and never realized this. Of course, we weren't running fast enough that the difference between sound and smoke would have made a difference. OTOH, when I ran in an outside lane on a staggered start, the gun was often behind me. I wonder how they would do that with an 800 with a staggered start, for example, when some runners could be almost the whole length of the track ahead of others.

They must do something at the Olympics, though. A lot of those runners appear to wear ear plugs.

More on topic, I wonder if this will "end" school sports that are for the purpose of getting scholarships to college and revitalize school sports that are for the purpose of having fun and helping all of us to stretch our limits?

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Rose West
"May God help us not to spoil His work" (Bl. Mother Theresa)

Val,

High School money is very tight in Florida, and I suspect that is probably true everywhere. Why should the schools pay for band equipment, football equipment, pitching machines, transportation to and from games, when they barely have money to pay for books.

As I said above the disparity in what it costs an athlete to play Football vs Baseball can be hundreds of dollars, and that doesn't count the personal equipment needed in baseball...bats and gloves.

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Bob C

Yeah, I wish.

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Bob C

The first time my son ran a staggered start, he was on the inside lane. As he was way ahead of everyone he was just into his "distance" jog when everyone blew by him, it was hilarious.




Possibly, AAU is scouted a lot already by pros and colleges.

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Bob C

At the high school where I taught, coached and assisted with events, the starter stood in front of the runner in the outside lane. That's why we instructed runners in the other lane, especially the ones in the most inside lanes, to watch the gun and go with the smoke. Timers were also so instructed.

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In Christ,

Jim B

I will consider your position if stated with firm, well-thought-out, quiet reasoning. Hateful diatribe, ad hominem attacks and shouted rhetoric don't impress.

Any athlete from a small school that plays other small schools will have a much better opportunity of earning a scholarship if he/she plays on an High-Competition AAU (or, in baseball, American Legion) team.

Scholarships are precious things to college coaches and most are reluctant to spend them on phenoms who don't compete with other phenoms.

A "pretty good" athlete can look great if she/he is competing against lesser foes, as happens a lot in small schools.

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In Christ,

Jim B

I will consider your position if stated with firm, well-thought-out, quiet reasoning. Hateful diatribe, ad hominem attacks and shouted rhetoric don't impress.

Jim,




I agree, AAU is pretty well scouted these days. Unfortunately Legion Ball is not scouted at all locally, maybe at the championship games.

Here in Tampa they have an Annual HS Baseball Tournament Sponsored by the Saladino Family that invites every high school in the area to take part, it is a double elimination tournament and that is very heavily scouted as every prospect in the area is located on about five sites.

I know that Volleyball is very heavily scouted locally especially by the Northern Schools.

The Hillsborough River is used during the winter for college crew teams to train on (I always wonder what they do for classes), and they have unofficial races which are fun to watch, several of the local high schools also have crew teams who train with and unofficially compete against the colleges.....I'm sure some of those rowers are noticed and offered scholarships.

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Bob C

One of the local Catholic High Schools had an amputee playing baseball, he was pretty good too. He was involved in a collision in the field which knocked his leg loose, the umpire started yelling to get an ambulance we have a serious injury. Meanwhile the player gets up, fixes his leg and asks the umpire whose hurt.

The umpire, a friend of mine, told me he almost fainted, he never knew the player was an amputee.

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Bob C

That reminds me of Monty Stratton.

That movie was always one of my favorites.

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In Christ,

Jim B

I will consider your position if stated with firm, well-thought-out, quiet reasoning. Hateful diatribe, ad hominem attacks and shouted rhetoric don't impress.

Bob C,



I agree that books come first. When I was in high school, I attended a fairly new school with a very nice library that had very few books. In 10th grade there was a fundraiser for football field lights, in 11th grade for band uniforms and in 12th grade...books for the library. It was infuriating to me.

I do feel bad though for those talented kids who will be left out of competitive sports because they can't pay. I didn't have money to play and there wasn't that much that I had to pay for. However, this is where the parents and local community should pitch in together to raise the necessary funds...which they have always done to some extent.

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Valerie Garcia
vals1990@yahoo.com

"Listen, O my son, to the precepts of thy master, and incline the ear of thy heart, and cheerfully receive and faithfully execute the admonitions of thy loving Father, that by the toil of obedience thou mayest return to Him ....." St. Benedict

Val,




As you noted, There are always fund raisers to provide avenues for the poor and talented kids, so they can play. The youth baseball league my boys played in, had a membership that was paid for field use, equipment etc. 10% was set aside for kids who could not play because of money....everyone played no one was left out who wanted to play.

I'm going to add something here; George Steinbrenner, former owner of the New York Yankees (now deceased), always had an open check book for the youth sports leagues, his foundation was always writing checks. I had the privilege of meeting him one time what a nice man.

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Bob C

Most high schools have an extracurricular/athletic booster club. Helping poor kids who can't afford to participate can be a booster club project. It can be done anonymously, too so that there is no stigma attached.

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In Christ,

Jim B

I will consider your position if stated with firm, well-thought-out, quiet reasoning. Hateful diatribe, ad hominem attacks and shouted rhetoric don't impress.

Isn't HS football a positive revenue generator?

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David L (CA)
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx

Not for most smaller high schools. Although it draws the largest attendance, it is by far the most expensive to equip.

For large schools with stadiums that seat thousands, yes. But for a school with a grandstand seating maybe 700–800, no.

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In Christ,

Jim B

I will consider your position if stated with firm, well-thought-out, quiet reasoning. Hateful diatribe, ad hominem attacks and shouted rhetoric don't impress.