MIAA Rules

Re: MIAA Rules

Bottom line is that this rule is not about some parent's view of what is best for their child. Like it or lump, if you are a bona fide member of a high school team you are expected to conform to the expectations set forth by its coach.

Therein lies the rub - it's not the expectations set forth by the coach it's that you are expected to conform to a black & white rule - one size fits all. And you can miss events for your cousins wedding or a trip to Disney but not for another sport.

Even it the coach would allow you to miss or otherwise be reasonable s/he cannot for fear of being reported by another team's players / coach.

[beentheredonethat]

Re: MIAA Rules

Therein lies the rub - it's not the expectations set forth by the coach it's that you are expected to conform to a black & white rule - one size fits all. And you can miss events for your cousins wedding or a trip to Disney but not for another sport.

This is where the MIAA perspective that an athlete should only be playing one sport at a time applies. If they won't allow kids to play two high school sports at the same time why should they allow it for a team outside their realm?

I actually have more of an issue with coaches, like the infamous girl's lacrosse coach at Wellesley, who go out of their way to punish players by specifically scheduling team events to conflict with things like the state cup. These types of coaches and AD's are the real villains in the debate.

Re: MIAA Rules

Bottom line is that this rule is not about some parent's view of what is best for their child. Like it or lump, if you are a bona fide member of a high school team you are expected to conform to the expectations set forth by its coach.

Different wording here.

What if the player conforms to the expectations of the coach but those dont fly with MIAA???? Seriously....coach calls an 'optional' practice and a player attends some club thing....what happens???

[beentheredonethat]

Re: MIAA Rules

What if the player conforms to the expectations of the coach but those dont fly with MIAA???? Seriously....coach calls an 'optional' practice and a player attends some club thing....what happens???

Think about how this rule is enforced. You may not realize that there is no enforcement arm of the MIAA so no one is going out looking for violations. The MIAA gets involved when they get a complaint or they are asked to rule on a waiver. In reality they seldom get complaints about this rule from outside the school. The bona fide rule is usually enforced by the AD at the request of a coach. The issue usually only pops up when the school is trying to hold an athlete to their commitment to the school team and there typically are prior circumstances (almost always predating the athlete involved) which are forcing the school to take a hard line. In the bulk of situations, enforcement of the rule is amicably worked out between the coach and the athlete. If the coach is agreeable to letting the athlete go to their event they simply make the practice optional otherwise they cite the rule and enforce it. Depends upon the people you are dealing with.

Re: MIAA Rules

What if the player conforms to the expectations of the coach but those dont fly with MIAA???? Seriously....coach calls an 'optional' practice and a player attends some club thing....what happens???

Think about how this rule is enforced. You may not realize that there is no enforcement arm of the MIAA so no one is going out looking for violations. The MIAA gets involved when they get a complaint or they are asked to rule on a waiver. In reality they seldom get complaints about this rule from outside the school. The bona fide rule is usually enforced by the AD at the request of a coach. The issue usually only pops up when the school is trying to hold an athlete to their commitment to the school team and there typically are prior circumstances (almost always predating the athlete involved) which are forcing the school to take a hard line. In the bulk of situations, enforcement of the rule is amicably worked out between the coach and the athlete. If the coach is agreeable to letting the athlete go to their event they simply make the practice optional otherwise they cite the rule and enforce it. Depends upon the people you are dealing with.

Nice response. Makes sense.

Re: MIAA Rules

Am i crazy or is the whole MIAA Rules complete garbage.

I went to a meeting with a lacrosse high school coach (got to be the worst sport in the world especially on girls side) who told me my daughter cannot miss any practices even on saturday for a travel soccer game.

I told her to stuff her team and her sport - she lost a lot of the top female athletes.

Let the familes decide what makes sense to them

Re: MIAA Rules

Am i crazy or is the whole MIAA Rules complete garbage.

I went to a meeting with a lacrosse high school coach (got to be the worst sport in the world especially on girls side) who told me my daughter cannot miss any practices even on saturday for a travel soccer game.

I told her to stuff her team and her sport - she lost a lot of the top female athletes.

Let the familes decide what makes sense to them

You did and made the decision not to have your daughter play HS lacrosse. Seems like a reasonable choice.

[beentheredonethat]

Re: MIAA Rules

Am i crazy or is the whole MIAA Rules complete garbage.

The rule is not garbage. Believe it or not, kids showing up and living up to their commitment to a team can be a real problem at some schools. I've seen the problem from both sides. Unfortunately, you do need a rule like this to keep control. The real issue is how a coach applies the rule and the demands that a parent/athlete are putting on the coach. Usually there are no problems when people are reasonable and unselfish. Unfortunately I've run across as many parents, who like the lacrosse coach referenced above, are only thinking of what's in their best interest. This type of parent typically sees partipation on a team as another bullet point on their kid's resume and nothing more. To them, membership on the team means next to nothing and team events are secondary to other goals. As a coach, running a team becomes virtually impossible if this type of mindset takes hold. On the flip side, coaches like this lacrosse coach are in the business for the wrong reasons. Holding the line without consideration to what is in the kid's best interest proves that they should not be working with kids. It amazes me how frequently I see school administrators put these types of coaches in charge of a team. Unfortunately the only recourse to a wacko coach or AD is to not participate and no one wins under that scenario.

Re: MIAA Rules

What if the player conforms to the expectations of the coach but those dont fly with MIAA???? Seriously....coach calls an 'optional' practice and a player attends some club thing....what happens???

Think about how this rule is enforced. You may not realize that there is no enforcement arm of the MIAA so no one is going out looking for violations. The MIAA gets involved when they get a complaint or they are asked to rule on a waiver. In reality they seldom get complaints about this rule from outside the school. The bona fide rule is usually enforced by the AD at the request of a coach. The issue usually only pops up when the school is trying to hold an athlete to their commitment to the school team and there typically are prior circumstances (almost always predating the athlete involved) which are forcing the school to take a hard line. In the bulk of situations, enforcement of the rule is amicably worked out between the coach and the athlete. If the coach is agreeable to letting the athlete go to their event they simply make the practice optional otherwise they cite the rule and enforce it. Depends upon the people you are dealing with.

Nice response. Makes sense.

It sure does make sense. The enforcement of any of the MIAA rules is done by the school (AD and principle) as result it ends up being very subjective and open to interpretation.

Re: MIAA Rules

If the coach is agreeable to letting the athlete go to their event they simply make the practice optional otherwise they cite the rule and enforce it. Depends upon the people you are dealing with.

What if the coach doesn't make the announcement to the rest of the team that the practice is optional and he knows that several of his players, that he excused, are attending a club event? Should he excuse other club soccer players under the guise of family commitments when they have a conflicting event? Seems self deprecating that a high school coach would defer to a club coach by pretty much saying his practice is less meaningful than the club coach, especially when the U15s don't play again for months. No bashing please - just opinions of whether this would be considered a violation of MIAA rules. PS Coach cannot plead ignorance because he has cited the rule to the team as a whole.

Re: MIAA Rules

I don't think AD's and coaches can give waivers to miss a team event. Only the MIAA can grant these.

Re: MIAA Rules

Am i crazy or is the whole MIAA Rules complete garbage.

I went to a meeting with a lacrosse high school coach (got to be the worst sport in the world especially on girls side) who told me my daughter cannot miss any practices even on saturday for a travel soccer game.

I told her to stuff her team and her sport - she lost a lot of the top female athletes.

Let the familes decide what makes sense to them

Yes, you are crazy. Here's what makes sense... Lets have one set of rules for your elite spoiled brat and one for everyone else. If it's the worst sport as you indicated, then what was your daughter thinking when she tried out. And what were you thinking by allowing her to do so. Just think of all that aggravation you could have avoided (not the fact that you made yourself out to be a huge arse in the process).

Re: MIAA Rules

Am i crazy or is the whole MIAA Rules complete garbage.

I went to a meeting with a lacrosse high school coach (got to be the worst sport in the world especially on girls side) who told me my daughter cannot miss any practices even on saturday for a travel soccer game.

I told her to stuff her team and her sport - she lost a lot of the top female athletes.

Let the familes decide what makes sense to them

Yes, you are crazy. Here's what makes sense... Lets have one set of rules for your elite spoiled brat and one for everyone else. If it's the worst sport as you indicated, then what was your daughter thinking when she tried out. And what were you thinking by allowing her to do so. Just think of all that aggravation you could have avoided (not the fact that you made yourself out to be a huge arse in the process).

It is on the girls side a terrible sport to play and watch. mostly played by girls who are not good enough to play elite soccer. it really is horrible and looks like it was made up

Re: MIAA Rules

Am i crazy or is the whole MIAA Rules complete garbage.

I went to a meeting with a lacrosse high school coach (got to be the worst sport in the world especially on girls side) who told me my daughter cannot miss any practices even on saturday for a travel soccer game.

I told her to stuff her team and her sport - she lost a lot of the top female athletes.

Let the familes decide what makes sense to them

Yes, you are crazy. Here's what makes sense... Lets have one set of rules for your elite spoiled brat and one for everyone else. If it's the worst sport as you indicated, then what was your daughter thinking when she tried out. And what were you thinking by allowing her to do so. Just think of all that aggravation you could have avoided (not the fact that you made yourself out to be a huge arse in the process).

It is on the girls side a terrible sport to play and watch. mostly played by girls who are not good enough to play elite soccer. it really is horrible and looks like it was made up

My point is not the viability of the sport itself as to the attitudes by some who don't like rules that have to apply to their kids. Rather than knock the sport and insult the coach, say “thanks, but no thanks” and move on. Like anything else, do the research, speak to the coach and become an informed consumer. Buyer beware.

Re: MIAA Rules

Here is a hypothetical, yet very real situation.

A boy or girl is a better soccer player than, say, basketball player. However, he/she wants to play on the high school basketball team, but also wants to participate in a soccer showcase over the Christmas holidays. Let's also say the player must miss 3 high school basketball practices in order to attend the soccer showcase, and no other high school "events" will be missed for outside activities. Does the MIAA rule make sense here?