I do that a lot.
Hey, good to hear from you Impartial! Merry Xmas to you and your wonder family.
Yes, we all know that private schools sole purpose is to screw public schools out of sports victories they deserve. You know how I hate to let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory but...
The transfer and eligibility rules are the same for publics and privates, absolutely exactly, to put a finer point on it.
Percentage wise, statistically privates don't win anymore trophies or championships than publics overall in the major sports (VB, FB, BB, Baseball, track and softball).
None of these advantages seem to help the majority of private school with poor programs, nor do they seem to disadvantage the minority of public schools with good programs.
But lets put facts side and say that yes, having an equivalent school district with a 50 mile radius which overlaps other "districts" is the reason no other Cascade team can get to state, well other than getting beat by NWC public school in the crossover EVERY SINGLE TIME. What are the alternatives?
Don't allow them to recruit? News flash the only evidence there is of recruiting is they develop a program that good players want to play for. The only enticement that has been offered here is basically, 'they have a program a rational dedicated player wants to play for'. Even if these WIAA band "scholarships" are real, tricky folks them private school people are, that would mean it cost $zero for those parents to send their child to that school. Soooo, doing the math that would mean a parent sending there kids to that private school instead of sending them the public would save AN EYE POPPING $zero dollars.
So if not financial then why would a parent take the privet up on that "free education"? Better product? top flight educationally? Athletics? Their child will be well coached, get to play with others dedicated to development and with commitment to their joined endeavor? Sorry, as a parent those aren't perks, aren't deal sweeteners; they're expectations I have for my public schools.
Make them opt up or form a separate league? Great, then we do what some other states that have done and we create sports academies. Then anyone with any talent ends up "opting up" to the majors. Once you make that segregation the gloves are off as far as acquiring talent. The private schools would no longer be banned from open recruitment and would become select teams like they are in states where privates and select schools have their own divisions. If this happened in Washington I vote for Pullman and Colfax to opt up to the higher classification and get some of the 5-7 girls from Garfield, Palouse, Oaksdale, Colton, St John... every year to come to Colfax or Pullman. Heck, Pullman would be a big draw from the large but mediocre sports in Moscow. As a public if you wanted to play at the highest level and not some DII equivalent, which the WIAA would then become, you'd have to get on board with College level recruiting, JUST like in every other state that has segregated. If that's what you want then fine, kick them out or force them out of the system of transfer and eligibility everyone abides by now.
Do private schools have some advantages, like playing small school ball while drawing from urban size populations and facilities? Yes, for some there are advantage. As, I might point out, it is an advantage to have a small tight knit community. The question is are advantages unfair? I don't see any actual evidence that the advantages some privates have are unfair.
Maybe that’s because my kids went to Colfax and Pullman and by some coincidence, some freakish run of luck I guess, the privates haven’t kept either from anything they disserved. I know one of these days we’re going to run up against one of those all star private school teams and won’t stand a chance but until then I’d just like to keep the illusion alive we’d be competitive. How many trophies have private schools cost EV now? Seems they’ve cost the rest of the Cascade league trophy cases full……..well, except for that state qualifying round with the NWC.
This post was edited on 12/25 4:43 PM by col-pul