Let me say first that Iยm not a sports writer. Though I have a glancing recognition of most sports, terms like RPI and RPM get mottled in my brain, a stew of letters and numbers no more clear to me than algebraic equations. I have, however, always been an athlete. Though I donยt know sports at a sports-talk-radio-junkie level, I know sports at an athlete level and that gives me the wisdom and experience to be plain mad about whatยs happening to the Melrose High football team.
These players, all kids — all under 19, must now forfeit the entire blood, sweat, and tears season theyยve already finished because of a Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) ruling.
No doubt it was a season of twice-a-day sweltering summer practices, of taped ankles, iced knees, glorifying wins, humiliating losses. Now itยs all for naught. Itยs like they werenยt even there. Why? Because sixteen Melrose players attended a football camp that neither they nor their parents paid for — and thatยs a violation of TSSAA rules.
When they got to the camp the boysย coach handed the camp director a check for $3,200 — enough to cover the $200 camp costs for each player. Who knows where the money originally came from? Who cares? Sixteen teenage boys got a chance to become better athletes and learned to work together as a team — a chance many probably would not have been able to afford without financial aid.
TSSAA rules prohibit players from attending camps not paid for by the player or the playerยs parents. Itยs a good thing that TSSAA never got wind of Cara or Patrick.
Cara was the sweeper on my high school soccer team, I was the goalie. Being the last line of defense before the game became just me and the ball, Cara was very important to me and to the team. I wanted her to be the absolute best sweeper she could be, as much for me and the team as for Cara herself.
So when Cara, whose father had walked out on her and whose mother could scarcely provide for her two children, quietly told our coach that she couldnยt afford the teamยs soccer camp, the team made sure that she could. We each approached our parents, told them about Caraยs situation and our parents gladly handed us checks for $10, $20, or $50. Some of the schoolยs teachers contributed, too. We took the checks to our coach and when the money was counted, we had more than enough to cover Caraยs camp fees. We never talked about it, but we had started our own ยscholarshipย fund for players that might not be able to go to soccer camp otherwise.
Had the TSSAA found us out, we would have had to forfeit our entire, hard-fought, season because this ยscholarshipย made Cara ineligible. We would have then, like Melrose, been fined $100 for every game in which Cara played.
My brotherยs basketball team would have been in a much worse position. They had several ยCarasย — kids who would not have been able to truly be a part of the team had others not helped them financially. One of these players was Patrick.
As one of five children being raised by a single mother, Patrick did not dare ask his mother for money for camps, for new basketball shoes, for the necessary items many teenage athletes take for granted. The money simply wasnยt available. Patrick didnยt have to ask his mother because he and his teammates had been playing together since junior high and the other kidยs parents took care of it for him.
Fortunately for us, my high school was economically mixed. Many teams are not. And teams like Melrose, many of whose players may not be able to afford camps on their own, still have to play teams like White Station, whose players and their parents probably can.
My high schoolยs athletic teams always had ยhavesย and ยhave-notsย on them. When one player couldnยt raise the money for necessary items, the money could be raised for him. My brotherยs team always had a ยscholarshipย fund to pay for these essentials so that members of the team would not feel left out. Thatยs what a team is and thatยs why so many teams opt to go to team camps. Itยs great for individual players to refine their own skills, but winning seasons come after whole teams get refined together.
Later, when Patrickยs mother and his family were evicted from their home and had to move into a tiny house with one of his relatives, Patrick came to live with my family. My parents never became his legal guardians, and he never officially lived with us, but for about a year Patrick spent every single night with us, ate dinner with us, even went on vacations with us. People that werenยt his parents helped pay for Patrick to be a normal kid, to have the kinds of things many of us take for granted.
But if the TSSAA had found out, we all would have been in trouble — and it would have been Caraยs and Patrickยs fault because they didnยt come from affluent families. Unfortunately this is the life lesson the TSSAA seems extremely eager to teach. Unfortunately, itยs the kids who ultimately pay the price.