Winning Really Isn’T Everything

Give kids an inch and parents will take a mile. For every high school athlete who needs to change schools for a personal reason, there are numerous parents who want their kids to change for personal gain.

It must stop.

Kids ought to play where they live, but winning has become more important than what is right.

Everyone wants what is best for their children but running from difficulties, hiding from challenges or coveting thy neighbor’s success without working for it is not how life works.

High school sports are for representing your school, learning lessons, developing lifelong friendships and having fun.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association transfer rule stipulates that without a change of residence, athletes are ineligible for varsity participation for one year in sports in which they competed during the past year.

If that were the only consideration, the rule would be cut and dried. But there are allowances for hardships. And, district rules supercede state rules.

School officials seem lenient in their interpretation of what constitutes hardship, but that’s OK. It’s better to err on the side of the welfare of kids. However, it’s that gray area parents are abusing.

The common belief is the transfer rule was meant to discourage recruiting by coaches.

In truth, it is more to discourage aggressive parents from shopping around their child.

When moving an athlete for selfish reasons, consider the flip-side. How would your athlete feel if he or she put in time to reach the varsity only to be bumped by a newcomer who only wants to steal a season or two with your coach or reap the rewards of winning that your kids have worked for?

College scholarships are few and far between. But any athlete with college potential will be discovered no matter where they are. Truthfully, that’s where the proliferation of club sports seems to come in.

Hardships exist. It isn’t until athletes are involved that anyone notices. And that makes the abusers stick out like a sore thumb.

The rules get tighter, the abusers get more creative and the needy suffer.

But if school officials want to remain sensitive to the truly needy, their hands are tied in dealing with abusers.

No doubt you can buy a kid into any school system you want.

Find the right psychologist, hire an attorney, rent a mailbox or apartment.

The here-today, there-tomorrow philosophy is destroying loyalty, friendships and the spirit of athletics. Winning has become more important than what is right. Society wants instant gratification and many won’t accept that the rule is bigger than personal rewards.

Life isn’t like that. When are our kids expected to learn that?

If there was a great answer, everyone would be using it.

The only way to control the situation is through the court of public opinion.

Education is the best way to put backbone in the rule.

Before moving a star athlete to greener pastures, maybe the best questions to ask are: When you come back for your class reunion in 10 years, where do you want to go and who do you want to see?

Moving around only throws the system out of whack and diminishes any success a team might have because everyone knows how it was accomplished.

In truth, it’s the 1 percent, who say hurrah for me, to hell with you that are spoiling it for the other 99 percent.

High school sports are the last place we can honestly say it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.