I received this late Saturday via email from a high school coaching colleague ... Your thoughts?
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Dear Superintendent, Principal and Athletic Director:
I am writing today to ask you to advocate for better treatment for boys and girls lacrosse in your next meeting with the South Carolina High School League.
As a parent of a high school lacrosse player, I feel that the school has not adequately represented the interests of the boys and girls that play lacrosse. I feel that the school should advocate for boys and girls lacrosse so that our children have the same opportunities as athletes of other sports. Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in North America and our children should have opportunities to receive scholarships like athletes in other states.
Specifically, I ask that you make and support the following proposals to the SCHSL:
First, Lacrosse should be a full spring sport that shares the same season as baseball, soccer, softball, track, boy’s tennis and golf. The SC High School League's "hybrid" season hurts children who want to play multiple sports. The hybrid season is unfair to players of winter sports, such as basketball, because the seasons overlap too much. Additionally, baseball players that are cut from baseball are discouraged from trying out for lacrosse because by the time baseball makes cuts, lacrosse are already 3 weeks into practice. It seems that the High School League has been more interested in protecting the month of May so that football can have all the fields for their practice.
Second, school administrators should require the SCHSL to protect the health of our students. Lacrosse players sometimes play 3 games per week in order to get a decent number of games per season. Meanwhile, football plays only one game per week for more than 16 weeks. The truncated "hybrid" lacrosse season has placed our children at a greater risk of injury due to the lack of recovery time between contests in a contact sport. Lacrosse should have a season that is at least as long as the other spring sports. This would allow for a 9-week regular season. The SCHSL has a 14 game maximum-game-allowed policy which is equivalent to other states that sanction lacrosse. Currently, the lacrosse regular season is 7 weeks long. That does not allow for adequate time to schedule make-up games if severe weather occurs. Additionally, the "hybrid" season starting in late January early February is not appropriate for a sport that should be played in spring weather.
Finally, school administrators should ask the SCHSL to move Soccer to its natural season in the fall. Football is the only sport that doesn't have to share facilities during their season. The SCHSL should schedule Soccer in the fall like other states in the country. In the spring, the following sports all share fields: boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse, boys soccer, girls soccer, baseball, softball and track. In the fall, the only sport that competes for field space is Football.
When spring practices are forced indoors due to weather, all seven spring sports (actually more than 14 if you count sub-varsity teams) have to compete for indoor facilities. In the fall, football automatically gets the indoor facility. Not to mention that the weather in the spring is typically worse than weather in fall.
The SCHSL's treatment of all spring sports is clearly discriminatory against female sports because all-male football has a season all to themselves, while girls outdoor sports are forced to share fields with too many sports in the spring.
Please contact me and let me know how you plan to support the above proposals in the SCHSL in your March meeting. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Lacrosse Parent
cc: School Board
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Part Two:
Steve Hisker to Lowcountry Lacrosse·
It's my understanding that the SCHSL will be announcing some kind of lacrosse season extension (either 1 to 2 weeks added at the end.) However, there was considerable opposition to full spring season. There are still some ADs in the Midlands trying to push lacrosse to a Winter sport (Spring Valley proposed this in the past but I don't know if they are responsible this time). It's my understanding that if Soccer proposed moving to fall, there would be overwhelming support for fall soccer and spring lacrosse. We need to get the soccer coaches involved so that we can have a joint proposal drafted for soccer and lacrosse. The proposals need to be submitted before January 1 2016 to be properly voted on in March 2016. If you know any Soccer coaches and parents, please talk to them and ask them to contact me. Thanks for all your support.
