FHSAA Is The New High School Bully

When I was young and in school, I realized every grade will have its bully. I made it through school and never really had to face off with that bully. Why? Who knows, maybe I was lucky. Now that I am a parent and have witnessed the newest bully to enter the picture, I wonder how we will face off with this monster.

The monster is question is the Florida High School Activities Association, the self-governing, self-righteous, self-appointed, all-knowing autocracy of Florida sports. All sports, in all high schools. They had no state involvement until 1997, when they were given statutory recognition to be the regulating body for school athletics. It would appear that unless you join the union, you don't play on a state level of competition.

I am not sure that I'm comfortable with a guy in Gainesville coming to Brooksville and deciding who will and won't play football on any given night. I am not sure why the parent of any Hernando County athlete would be. He has no clue of the Hernando sports dynamics, he does not have a clue who the players are and he certainly should not have say in the matter.

This matter should be handled by our local school district, which should not cave in to the FHSAA. Last year, the skirmish between Nature Coast Technical and Central High School could have been handled better, but what everyone fails to understand is that whatever happened on the field was based on emotion by both teams. CHS had their display of excitement of winning and NCT obviously didn't appreciate anyone jumping on their painted school logo. The outcome would probably have been the same had NCT done that in the CHS stadium after a win. The next skirmish in South Lake is still fresh in everyone's mind, a play that didn't garner a flag turned ugly. The bench-clearing brawl happened on the visitor's side. Who was the antagonist in this case, and why were the lights out?

The FHSAA representative in charge of issues regarding unsportsmanlike conduct, Denarvise Thornton, has levied punishments on both teams for their actions based on the word of referees, and Thornton has made it clear that neither team will play this week. His decree not only affects NCT and CHS, but it also affects the teams that would be playing games that are of importance to them. An appeal is not effective with the FHSAA because the person who decides your fate in any matter also hears your appeal. Seems highly ineffective doing it this way. Any change would imply that person was wrong in their initial findings. It would appear that having an appeal board, consisting of members who had no contact with the initial dispute, should handle the appeal. It only makes sense.

Thornton's decision not only affects NCT ending its season with a 10-0 record, but also affects CHS by not allowing its seniors a Senior Night and the last game of the high school season.

Thornton and Hernando County Schools Superintendent Wayne Alexander need to revisit this because they are keeping the players and students of both schools from experiencing the very tenet of the FHSAA's existence: Building leaders through teamwork, sportsmanship and citizenship.

Michael Batchelder

Brooksville