From the SCHSL Constitution:
Before being considered as a member of the League, the non-public school must clearly define its attendance area
as one of the following: (1) the attendance area of the public school in whose attendance area the school is
located, (2) the school district in which the school is located, and (3) the county in which the school is located.
Public schools, however, are limited to option (1). Again, not the same rules for private and public member schools.
That said, if you eliminate all of the players who don't come from the local public school's attendance zone, would that place the private school at a severe numbers disadvantage? Probably so.
Does compensating for that by allowing the private school to pick and choose the best applicants from a county-wide area put public schools at a disadvantage? Sure...it effectively gives them the opportunity to create a county All-Star team. And it's hard to blame serious athletes for wanting to come to BE or CC to be a part of that.
Anyway, I don't have a solution that would be fair to both sides. I agree with mk#11 that any team with proper training and motivation can learn to be competitive, but being competitive is not always the same as winning championships. There are a lot of excellent, competitive teams who are sitting at home right now thinking about next season. In that arena, even a slight advantage can make the difference...which is why our governing body is in place to ensure as level a playing field as possible so that everyone is at least starting from the same point. Can't control things like the number of club teams and other feeder programs in a school's attendance area...there will always be schools at advantage or disadvantage based on that, and it's just a fact of life...but I hope the League examines carefully the things it CAN regulate.
