Turning a Blind Eye

High school is a place to get involved with clubs, activities, and sports and sports is one of the biggest “clubs” that people want to be a part of. The Colorado High School Sports Association, CHSAA, has a policy in place regarding conduct.

 

The policy is that if a student athlete breaks a law outside of school then they should be held accountable in the school with sports. This would go into effect if a student was to go out during “Junior-Senior Wars” and kidnap someone after destroying their houses with eggs. If our school would hold these student-athletes accountable rather than turning a blind eye, the whole system would be a lot simpler.

                                                                                                                                      

The breaking the law policy is  family enforced at this point, but if we rid our school of the bias towards major sport athletes, they will be suspended for however long the school, parents, and officers involved believe is right for the punishment. The policy should be adhered to because if a student is so serious about their sport then they will not break the law; they will keep their grades, and they will bring a better reputation to the school and the community.

 

As of now, an out-of-school incident won’t affect a student-athlete’s eligibility. This is crazy because being a student athlete comes with responsibilities, such as being a representative for you school. This is why student-athletes should be held accountable for their actions in and out of school–they represent Rocky.

 

Upholding the policy would be a major step into the right direction and keep students accountable. Ifa student is able to handle a sport, he or she should be able to handle their grades and their behavior outside of the school.

 

Student-athletes at our school broke laws during homecoming week; They participated in “Junior-Senior Wars” where kids were kidnapped, cars were vandalized, lawns were bleached, and houses were paintballed and egged. The kids were still able to play that week’s game because who would ever want our senior football players to miss their last homecoming game. Aided by the fact that it was off school grounds, the coaches did not punish anyone.

 

This account of the events is from a Rocky staff member, but as per their wishes, they will remain anonymous.

 

The point of this is not to bring retroactive punishment to those who were involved, but rather bring up an issue within Rocky. Should we as a school “play dumb” to crimes being committed by student-athletes? If no police report is filed, but a coach finds out, how should we go about punishing said athletes? In a moral grey area, the line is drawn at this; we pride ourselves on having integrity in everything we do here at Rocky, shouldn’t we require our student-athletes to act with integrity no matter where they are?