1 MS Team in our city is not even on DD’s schedule, living in a bigger city has both positives and negatives.
IL - Junior High Decision on Travel Teams
- Thread starter BrianMonk
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
There are a couple of reasons the idea of prohibiting TB players from playing for those teams during the school season makes sense. The biggest is the time. Here in Illinois softball during the HS season is six days a week. And coaches often run past their scheduled two-hour practices. So between school, practices and games pretty much every minute is already taken. If they had to try to squeeze in a 2-hour TB practice it would be insane.
That does leave Sunday, but a lot of the kids use Sunday to either unwind or more likely catch up on the homework and do the projects they had to ignore during the week.
The other concept is to try to keep some schools, especially those with rich TB programs nearby, from gaining an advantage over those who don't have access to it. Not sure it really works, but that's the concept I've been told.
In Illinois, middle school ball is more recreational. Even average TB players dominate in those games, and a score of 22-19 is not atypical. But if that were to change, and the schools started taking it more seriously, the time commitments could wind up being the same. At that point it would be very difficult for those players to do both school and travel teams concurrently.
Long way of saying I think it's a bad idea. IESA admins should do their jobs and make a decision so it's fair for all.
That does leave Sunday, but a lot of the kids use Sunday to either unwind or more likely catch up on the homework and do the projects they had to ignore during the week.
The other concept is to try to keep some schools, especially those with rich TB programs nearby, from gaining an advantage over those who don't have access to it. Not sure it really works, but that's the concept I've been told.
In Illinois, middle school ball is more recreational. Even average TB players dominate in those games, and a score of 22-19 is not atypical. But if that were to change, and the schools started taking it more seriously, the time commitments could wind up being the same. At that point it would be very difficult for those players to do both school and travel teams concurrently.
Long way of saying I think it's a bad idea. IESA admins should do their jobs and make a decision so it's fair for all.
Westwind, I worded this information very poorly.
Before - IESA had by-laws that state anyone playing a junior high sport was prohibited from playing/practicing that sport on any other team (during the J.H. season).
Now - it's a free-for-all. Do what you want as long as if follows school policy.
I'm not sure it's too bid of deal for softball, at least now. There's not much going on for the junior high girls anyway. Very few if any tournaments to play in and they are playing/practicing with their school team 4-6 days a week as it is.
I'm told, and I don't know how accurate it is, but that AAU basketball was starting to draw kids away from the junior high teams. Kids were choosing AAU over junior high because of the restrictions.
Combine that with the fact the IESA does NOT have the resources to investigate and only those that self reported (or someone squealed) got punished, they just decided to keep the cheaters from cheating by eliminating the by-law.
This is our language on MS independent play, and the state board doesn't mess around with violators. I've seen some try to sneak around at the MS level, but got caught. So far, I've not seen any try it at the HS level. Unless you're playing for a team 500 miles away, someone somewhere will see you. And in this day and age, get all the evidence on camera or by posting online.
Independent-Game Participation
Section 21. Once a student's name is listed on the school eligibility report, if a student participates in an independent game in that sport before the season has closed or his/her name has been removed from the eligibility report at the request of the school principal, the student shall be ineligible as explained below.
Any organized game in which players not registered with TMSAA participate – regardless of whether admission is charged - is considered as an independent game. Violation of this rule will render the student ineligible for 25% of the number of contests allowed in that sport by the sports calendar or for the remainder of the season in that sport, whichever number is the least. Violation of this rule a second time in the same sport in the same season will render the student ineligible in that sport for the remainder of the season.
A student's name may be removed from the school's eligibility list upon written request of the principal. After such a request has been filed with the state office, a student may then participate as an independent without penalty. If a principal requests the state office to remove a student's name from the school's eligibility list, such student may not again be certified during the season of that sport.
Independent-Game Participation
Section 21. Once a student's name is listed on the school eligibility report, if a student participates in an independent game in that sport before the season has closed or his/her name has been removed from the eligibility report at the request of the school principal, the student shall be ineligible as explained below.
Any organized game in which players not registered with TMSAA participate – regardless of whether admission is charged - is considered as an independent game. Violation of this rule will render the student ineligible for 25% of the number of contests allowed in that sport by the sports calendar or for the remainder of the season in that sport, whichever number is the least. Violation of this rule a second time in the same sport in the same season will render the student ineligible in that sport for the remainder of the season.
A student's name may be removed from the school's eligibility list upon written request of the principal. After such a request has been filed with the state office, a student may then participate as an independent without penalty. If a principal requests the state office to remove a student's name from the school's eligibility list, such student may not again be certified during the season of that sport.
No one gives two hoots about softball. This change is due to basketball and football, not softball.
It helps to understand a little about Illinois schools. There are some very small school districts and some huge districts. In some school systems, there is one middle school per HS. So, kids who play sports in MS end up on the HS team.
In the Chicago burbs, four or five 800 student middle schools feed a high school. Each of those middle schools has two teams per sport per grade. E.g., there is a boys basketball A and B team for 7th and 8th grade. So, at HS, there will be a 120 kids trying out for 20 spots on the high school freshman team.
If you look at the numbers, it was impossible for the IESA to ever police the previous rule.
It helps to understand a little about Illinois schools. There are some very small school districts and some huge districts. In some school systems, there is one middle school per HS. So, kids who play sports in MS end up on the HS team.
In the Chicago burbs, four or five 800 student middle schools feed a high school. Each of those middle schools has two teams per sport per grade. E.g., there is a boys basketball A and B team for 7th and 8th grade. So, at HS, there will be a 120 kids trying out for 20 spots on the high school freshman team.
If you look at the numbers, it was impossible for the IESA to ever police the previous rule.
