There's been some back and forth lately about a high school bowling coach requiring that all players on the team sign up for the youth league at the host bowling center.
It's a bonus if a high school coach can also have their players participate in the host center's youth leagues. Especially if the coach is a part of the center's youth coaching staff. The decision to participate, however, belongs to the athlete, not the coach.
Much is expected of student-athletes when they wear the uniform of their school. Along with getting the athlete's best effort on the lanes, good sportsmanship and respect for the rules should also be expected.
Requiring the players to bowl in the host center's youth program during the season should not be a part of those expectations. Once NSAA recognition is achieved, this won't be allowed to happen anyway, but in the meantime, this is an unnecessary requirement to place on the student-athlete.
The bowling centers give their lineage to this program and that is appreciated. Many proprietors are also coaching, which is also much appreciated. The return on that investment may not come immediately. It may be 3-5 years down the line, depending on if the student-athlete chooses to leave town for college. If the student comes back and becomes an adult league bowler thanks to the positive experience he or she had as a high school bowler, everyone wins.
Now, it's possible that this requirement may have been made to get in a little pre-season practice without looking like a pre-season practice. Two schools in other sports have gotten themselves into a little bit of trouble with the NSAA recently over this issue, so I would advise any high school bowling coach looking to get an early start to think twice before organizing any pre-season practices. Granted, we're not an NSAA recognized sport yet, but the NHSBF rules mirror the NSAA rules just the same, so read up before thinking about putting together any informal "practice" sessions.
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I know many people have put in massive amounts of time and their own money toget bowling recognized in Nebraska as a school sport but what is the advantage of that to the kids?
ReplyDeleteAll I can see is a lot more rules that prevents them from bowling in leagues and tournaments. It could also prevent them from playing other school sports.
Truthfully all of the people who have built the current High School program have done such an out standing job why would you want State Government to come in and screw it up.
Please tell me where I'm wrong----Harold Smith at hihws@hotmail.com