Back in Blighty, high school sport was just a chance to play with your mates and have a bit of a laugh. Sure, we'd practice once or twice a week, but that was really just scrimmaging anyway. We'd win some, we'd lose some, nobody really cared. What I remember most was some of the quirky teacher-coaches we had over the years, the occasional near dust up and that time it hailed so hard we all ran and hid in the hedge.
Fast forward and move to Canada and I start to see pictures and reports in the newspaper - people seem to be taking it quite seriously, especially basketball and hockey. I've tried to understand high school sports, but I find it an enigma, wrapped in a puzzle. Is it about developing the individual through sport? Is it about developing athletes? Is it about winning the provincial banner? Does it mean different things to different people? I don't know!
This past weekend was the play-downs for the high school provincial basketball championships and following one of the games there was a bit of a spat between a couple of coaches. It boiled down to the fact that one school had two players who were not locals, but had allegedly moved to that school's catchment area to play basketball in what is considered to be a 'top program'. The two players had a major impact on the result and the losing coach was griping and implying it was not fair as at his school, they developed their own players.
I don't know if there are written or unwritten rules about this sort of thing, but in most sports outside of the school system this would be perfectly acceptable and even encouraged. Soccer NB has a development centre located in Moncton with a full-time professional coach and support services designed to help the top high school aged players progress. They encourage provincial team players to relocate. It operates outside of school sport. If you are a promising and passionate figure skater, but happen to live in Backwoods, NB. where the local club has only 2 hours of ice time a week and Ginny's Mom does the coaching duties, you are not going to achieve your goals unless you relocate. Basketball NB has excellent provincial team programs that run in the summer, but high school basketball is the only game in town for the long winter months.
Put yourself in shoes of a talented and passionate basketball player who happens to go to a school with a weak basketball program, or no team at all. Do they let their dreams (and potential scholarship opportunities) fade away or do they relocate to a school that provides excellent coaching and a strong competitive schedule? And, if there's a school rule against that sort of thing, should high schools be the primary development vehicle for the sport?
Comments please.
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