The following editorial appeared Tuesday in the Olympian of Olympia.

While overzealous parents are a detriment for youth sport activities, the real problem comes when coaches resort to cheating in order to win.

No better case exists than what has recently unfolded at Chief Sealth High School in West Seattle, where the girls basketball team has been stripped of back-to-back state championships. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has forced Chief Sealth to forfeit all of its games for the past four seasons. The reason: The coaching staff illegally recruited players.

It’s the right punishment and sends the right message to coaches, parents and players: Cheating will not be tolerated. Athletic competition is supposed to build character, not teach youngsters how to stretch the rules and succeed through fraud.

This deplorable incident has a direct tie to South Sound because the River Ridge High School girls team lost the state 3A championship to Chief Sealth in 2005. River Ridge might well have had a state championship award in its trophy case – and not a second-place banner – if Chief Sealth had played by the rules. Issaquah lost to Chief Sealth in a squeaker – 44-43 – in March of this year.

Even though Chief Sealth has been stripped of its state titles, the championship trophies will not be awarded to River Ridge and Issaquah. The WIAA executive board has said no team will be awarded the state title for 2005 or 2006.

The real victims here are the legitimate members of the Chief Sealth team and those Chief Sealth basketball players who were denied a spot on the team to make room for illegally recruited players.

The culprits here are the coaching staff who stooped to cheating in order to win, and the recruits’ parents who joined in the fraudulent scheme to get their daughters onto the team even though they did not live in the proper district.

Recruiting violations at Chief Sealth were brought to light in news stories published by the Seattle Times in February. Seattle Public Schools conducted its own investigation and concluded that five players were recruited to Chief Sealth with promises of starting positions and college scholarships – violations of high school recruiting rules. WIAA regulations prevent high school coaches from recruiting players.

The coaches have denied any wrongdoing. But after the investigation findings were made public, the school district refused to renew the coaching contract of girls basketball coach Ray Willis and his assistants, Amos Walters and Laura Fuller.

The WIAA board stripped Chief Sealth of all basketball victories dating back to the 2002-03 season because girls recruited for the team in violation of WIAA rules played a significant role in those wins. The team also will remain on probation for two years.

Through its ruling, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has sent a strong message that cheating will not be tolerated. It was absolutely the right punishment and the right message.