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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Exchange Students Dislike Bar Against Varsity Play

Detlef Schrempf and Christian Welp were allowed to play high school varsity sports in Washington.

Peter Wittkotter and Michael Meier aren’t.

Nobody is going to confuse Wittkotter and Meier, German exchange students at Rogers High School, with their countrymen Schrempf and Welp.

Schrempf plays for the Seattle SuperSonics. Welp was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers after being named Pacific-10 Conference player of the year.

Both attended high school in Western Washington as exchange students before starring in basketball at the University of Washington.

Wittkotter (tennis) and Meier (soccer) are average Joes who would like to help Pirate varsity teams.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, which decides such matters, long ago clamped down on foreign athletes. The WIAA ruled that exchange students are limited to junior varsity play.

The association needed to take some action because the Centralia (in the case of Schrempf) and Olympic (Welp) high schools recruited foreign players to win championships.

“But it’s kind of a protectionist, isolationist type of rule,” said Rogers boys basketball and tennis coach Rick Mergenthaler. “We think we’re doing the right thing, but there aren’t a lot of kids from foreign countries who would come here and play sports.”

Meier, from Kempten, Germany, remembers checking out a room of fellow German students who were preparing for their trek to America.

“There were 100 people there, and from what they looked like, only three or four could compete in sports,” Meier said.

One of Wittkotter’s friends, an exchange student in Alabama, competes in varsity sports.

“I had no real choice where I could come,” said the Velburg , Germany, native. “If you could choose, I would go to a state where I could play varsity.”

Wittkotter would probably play No. 1 singles for the varsity. His junior varsity matches are a waste of time, with 6-0 sets the norm.

Meier is a steady, not flashy, soccer player who believes his skills are wasted on JV. He knows he could teach varsity players a few moves because American soccer pales in comparison to the German game.

Both Germans served as managers for Mergenthaler’s basketball team.

Although Wittkotter is 6-foot-6, he (and most Germans) don’t have the basketball background of typical Americans. Wittkotter probably isn’t of varsity caliber, but he wanted to find out.

School sports aren’t popular in Germany. Club sports receive more attention, but the average basketball team receives little quality guidance.

“I already know more about basketball than my coach does in Germany,” Meier said.

“I don’t think (Washington coaches) should recruit … but this is like a cultural exchange. You should be part of the students’ lives.”

John Olson, an assistant executive and attorney for the WIAA, said the organization treats foreigners like any other student. If foreigners move into a school district with their parents or guardian, they can play.

“The concern was … when the West German kids began coming over,” Olson said. “Those kids obviously came to gain exposure.”

“A lot of people got their feathers ruffled (by the recruiting,)” said Mergenthaler, who was at Elma High at the time. “But how many basketball coaches are going to travel to Europe to look for players?”

Wittkotter suggested that the WIAA restrict foreign players from so-called major sports while allowing them to compete in golf, tennis or other less-attended sports.

Meier, an excellent table tennis player, said there shouldn’t be any division between sports.

“Even if you could practice with (the varsity), that would be a worthwhile experience,” Meier said.

“I think (the WIAA) should really think about what a cultural exchange should be.”