A Sea Of Red

From this morning's Washington Post...

Last summer, Frank Rocco stood up in a crowded office at the Charlottesville headquarters of the Virginia High School League. An athletic director at a small private school in Lynchburg, Rocco readied to speak in a room filled with lawyers and administrators. He felt entirely confident. This proposal was too logical, Rocco thought, to stir any sort of controversy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01746.html

I am not sure how to quote using the new rules so I will paraphrase. The AD from O'Connell hit the nail on the head: It would be nice to compete with the public schools, but when you look at all the rules and regulations we would have to abide by it would be a nightmare. Our players could only play 8 semester's (that's 4 years) and would limit the number of games we could play. That is it in a nutshell. If LCA or any private school wants to play in the VHSL then they should abide by the rules. If they don't want to abide by the rules then they should go ahead and dominate their own league. To me THAT seems logical

i thought this issue sorta died down...........but i guess not.

"If we sued again, I don't think they could keep us out," said O'Connell Athletic Director Darrell Snyder, who worked at the school when the lawsuit was filed. "But when you start thinking about abiding by all those public school rules, it's too much. [Private school athletes] could only play for eight semesters. We couldn't play as many games. We'd have to make big changes in our department. Yeah, we'd get to play for the same state championship. But the whole process would be a nightmare."

You got a lot more out of that quote than I did, Haze. Dude didn't exactly lay much out there. Besides the semester thing and -- obviously -- some of their transfer rules, what all would the privates have to change?

one thing that would have to change is publics can only play a certain amount of regular season games. privates can do whatever they want, and the transfer rules are two big factors.

The two large private schools that were admitted into the public league here in Texas had to change their rules to abide by the identical rules as the publics. So far it has been successful. But with there being only two schools, they are under a microscope and there are plenty of folks willing to rat them out at the first opportunity.

Well LIB I hope that you said that 'stache in cheeck. The "semester thing" and the "transfer thing" are two HUGE things that would have to change. Also, you can throw in the age limit in with the semester segment. Also, sitting out one year if you transfer with the "transfer thing" And he said it would be a Nightmare, which means that it is not worth it.
I like what SLY says. I went to a private school and we played in the public school leagues. We had to abide by the same rules as the other schools and were competitive in a lot of sports.
LCA, IMO, is aiming low by trying to get into the VHSL Championships. They have the ability to play local schools but why not aim for the sky? EVERYONE knows who Oak Hill is, but not very many people have hear of Brookville. Why not set a tradition and competitive standard on the NATIONAL LEVEL??? Talk about getting your name out their! They would not have to change much of anything, except expand their travel budget.

Nope. I was being serious. The "semester thing" and the "transfer thing" may be big changes but I fail to see how that automatically translates into "a nightmare". Are we talking about higher eligibility requirements, added financial commitments, or just more paperwork?

Quote from the article:
"Aside from Virginia, Maryland and the District, Texas is the only state in which public and private schools remain athletically autonomous, competing for separate championships."


I said a year ago on this board- Virginia is way behind the times and needs to get out of the segregationist past. Private school participants pay taxes just like everyone else, they should not be barred from the benefits derived from those taxes.

North Carolina has separates for publics and privates. We admitted a couple privates at the last realignment but that's only like four total.

If the privates play by the rules...then there would not be a problem.

I had never heard of private and public schools being separate until moving here to virginia for school....of course everybody should abide by the same rules, but i think its just silly to make them play separately simply because they aren't public schools....but i guess thats just me

Its not an issue of Public Vs Private. It is a matter of "standards". Currently, I can be failing at a VHSL school and transfer to a private school and play right away. In fact I can transfer and play right away, whereas if I transfer to a public school I would have to sit out.
The fact that schools give scholarships (eligibility thing) would be a huge bump in the road.

The bottom line, and I think we all agree, is that if ALL schools play by the same rules than they should be able to play in the same state body. As of right now, that is not the case in Virginia.