Thursday, October 30, 2008
Editorial: Changing the game
The state school league plans to reclassify schools without inducing a championship migraine.
From the RoundTable blog
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If there were a championship award handed out for sheer guts, the Virginia High School League would be in a class by itself. The VHSL has proposed a new alignment of scholastic competitive divisions that is sure to be analyzed, scrutinized and criticized -- and that's just from those who understand and agree change is needed.
So before the VHSL gets sacked in its own end zone for daring to change classifications older than many high school coaches, let's, at the very least, salute its bravery.
The proposal is new, and there are far too many academics, coaches, parents and fans who need to weigh in before anyone should take sides.
The VHSL might have devised a much better way to classify teams or it could be coming up with something even worse than the current system, which was adopted in 1970 and has grown flawed with age. A thorough discussion is warranted.
At first glance, the new plan has two important things in its favor: It tries to make fairer competitions based on school sizes. With five, rather than the current three, classifications, similarly sized schools will meet each other in championship games. And the new sections would help to keep students from having to travel long distances and miss out regularly on class work just so they can play everyone in their region.
There is one drawback that immediately seems apparent: Geographically isolated schools might find it difficult to fill a regular schedule if the schools they always play opt for closer away games. Currently, the system requires teams wanting to compete for championships to have played everyone in their district.
Without this rule, scheduling might prove difficult. Perhaps not so much with football, confined as it is to Friday nights and Saturdays. But at isolated schools, sports such as basketball, volleyball, baseball and softball that are scheduled several school nights each week might suffer.
VHSL says there are ways to work around that problem. School officials will need to understand those details before embracing the change.
There is much to digest and consider about the plan. Four question-and-answer sessions will be held throughout Virginia. One is planned Nov. 18 in Salem. It should be well attended.
