TB vs. High School

[ga_smith]

Home schooled kids in GA cannot play. I know that a lot of people think it isn't right but it would open up a can of worms for eligibility....especially football. I don't see how some states do it without being taken advantage of.

High school coaches going crazy with year around practices could get in a lot of trouble. GHSA has policies in place for when practices start and how they should be done. I know teams abuse this...especially cheerleading... but they*could* be hit hard on it. If a kid played travel ball and it didn't interfere with school ball it wouldn't stand up if challenged.....Might be nasty issue but it wouldn't stand up unless there was a state policy.

 

[riseball]

My point is the State Associations and HS coaches need to be a bit more honest and forthcoming. The State Associations are business and it is in their best interests not to have to compete with TB as it increases their bottom line. Nothing wrong with that. Just be up front about it and not come up with some BS about overuse and injury prevention as that premise is ludicrous. The same goes for HS coaches. Unless you are limiting participation in ALL other athletic/recreational activities during your season, as described by Cannonball you are simply not being honest with your players, parents, and maybe even yourself.

 

[YOCOACH]

High school coaches going crazy with year around practices could get in a lot of trouble. GHSA has policies in place for when practices start and how they should be done. I know teams abuse this...especially cheerleading... but they*could* be hit hard on it. If a kid played travel ball and it didn't interfere with school ball it wouldn't stand up if challenged.....Might be nasty issue but it wouldn't stand up unless there was a state policy.

We have very strict rules as to when teams are in season, when they are allowed to practice, when the coach is allowed contact with the team etc. etc. and there are very stiff penalties if caught. So many of the HS around our area have the team captains or a players parent run the practices to get around it. Obviously these practices cannot be made mandatory but it is made well known that if the girls want to make the team, let alone start, they better be at every practice and attendance is usually taken by the team captain or a Senior to let the coach know who's "dedicated." It can be challenged easily enough in a court of law or via the HS association but even though they may have broken the spirit of the rules, they haven't broken the actual rules themselves and good luck trying to prove attendance policy. It can also be challenged by the girl dedicating their Summer to TB over the "conditioning" HS team practices but they better not want to play that sport for their HS the following year.

 

[grcsftbll]

Home schooled kids in GA cannot play. I know that a lot of people think it isn't right but it would open up a can of worms for eligibility....especially football. I don't see how some states do it without being taken advantage of.

It annoys me because I pay as many taxes to the schools as anyone else in my county. MANY states allow homeschooled kids to try out and play (ask Tim Tebow) so obviously it can be done.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Here's a question for you related to high school ball in GA, if you know. Assuming TB does go pretty dead during HS season, do you happen to know if homeschooled kids can try out for school teams? I have a while before I have to worry about this - mine is 3rd grade currently. But if she's still playing I wonder if I could try her out for local high school teams so she can play during that TB dead time assuming that happens here.

No, Georgia does not allow home-schoolers to participate in high school sports, not in GHSA schools. There are some home-school football leagues in Georgia that are separate from the GHSA. No sure if there are any home-school softball leagues.

There is currently a proposal before the GHSA to allow a student from a magnet school to participate in sports in the student's ''home district'' if the magnet school doesn't not offer a particular sport. I don't expect it to pass. If it did, that might open the door for a similar challenge from home-schoolers.

 

[grcsftbll]

We tried a homeschool softball league last year. We went once then quit, it was pretty awful. There's always the possibility the kids will want to attend high school. If they do, I'll let them but as of now I don't have any plans to send them.

 

[JAD]

It annoys me because I pay as many taxes to the schools as anyone else in my county. MANY states allow homeschooled kids to try out and play (ask Tim Tebow) so obviously it can be done.

While I understand your point, you are going to be in for a rude awakening if you think HS sports in GA are 100% taxpayer funded....

 

[grcsftbll]

I'm just talking about the right to have some participation in the public school system for my child. I know sports are expensive and I always expect to come out of pocket. Homeschooled kids are such a small percentage, I very much doubt allowing them to try out for HS teams would wreak havoc and cause the apocalypse.

 

[djcarter1966]

We homeschooled ours in CO and TX, in Colorado my boy was able to play for a private school baseball team and had a great time. In Texas the home-school football and basketball leagues are actually pretty good and my son played baseball for a season with them as well and had a great time. Problem always is you can find good rec program through 12U but at that point you either take the travel/club route or you don't play since there are not options for most sports.

I don't see eligibility issues for hoemschoolers really being an issue at all, you need your parents drivers license, rent or mortgage stub and some kind of utility bill and that's where you live; If you are "living" with Aunt Sue then show me the court order giving Aunt Sue legal guardianship or NO you can't play here; same thing happens with kids attending public schools all the time, you either live in the district or your don't.

To the original topic...as others have stated you can feel free to just play travel ball but in most states where both at the same time are not allowed you won't have anybody to play against hence we go dark. Plus as others have stated exactly when would you be practicing or playing; HS teams usually have kids form several TB teams so syncing schedules is not as easy as it sounds and HS practice and games are every day but Sunday, even if you could why would you.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Several states already allow it, probably half of states at this point.

One issue that would need to be addressed is classifying schools based on enrollment. If you allow home-schoolers, must a school then count every high-school aged home-schooler in the district when being classified? A school might be bumped from AAA to AAAA because it has a high number of home-schoolers in the district.

I doubt that the GHSA could block a concerted effort by the legislature to allow home-schoolers. I don't know the legal grounds that GHSA would use. I think the GHSA's defense would be more about the spirit and tradition of school athletics, the idea that a sports team represents a school and those students who walk its halls every day, those who have pride in it, those who take classes there, who represent and play for their school, where they have skin in the game, etc. To many of them, a home-schooler is an outsider, someone who isn't part of the school, but who enjoys the amenities that he/she picks and chooses. More traditional areas where there aren't many home-schoolers probably won't appreciate playing against schools that use athletes who don't even attend the school. But is there legal grounds to stop it? Probably not.