Central PA sports have been unfair and biased for quite some time. When inner city, or "Urban" schools travel and compete, there's no secret that their treated less than

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fairly. As a proud father of five Athletes, sports culture is huge within our home. The sad part about it is our youth have to play and compete three times as hard just to get a fair shot. This is unacceptable. I have testaments from players, coaches and coordinators that back the statements in this passage with more specifics. Most recently, for some reason the amount of disrespect towards our youth, coaches, and faculty have hit an all-time low.

 

Some of you wanted to say this for a long time, so I feel I’m only articulating how we all feel at times with HS sports.  Just the other night, one of our Varsity girl basketball players got suspended two games for laughing. On the other hand, the referees and staff allow something like this to happen without a disqualification, warning, or anything. A clear knee to the nose with no concern for the contestant's well-being. The video clearly shows the referee looking the entire time, but we were told the ref didn’t see it. My son told me the whole time they were wrestling, nothing but slurs came from the young man's mouth. (If it was an accident, he would have definitely turned around in concern or even apologized) My son was 8-0 last season, then 3-0 this season until this. Now he can't wrestle this season and has to get physical therapy to get back where he once was. Is this fair? I say No! 

Here is what the PIAA rules say about unsportsmanlike conduct:

-PIAA Supplemental Disqualification
General Rule. Preamble
Sportsmanship is a core principle in interscholastic athletics. Actions which are unethical and/or intended to demean, embarrass, intimidate or injure opposing contestants, Teams, spectators and/or officials are considered unsportsmanlike and will not be tolerated since they are contrary to the purposes of PIAA and convey lessons incompatible with the reason why high school sports exist.

• Additional training is involved:
• When the Supplemental Disqualification implicates a contestant, and in addition to the two (2) Contests disqualification, the contestant may not return to competition representing the contestant’s school until the contestant completes the NFHS Sportsmanship program at NFHSLearn (online) and provides a certification of completion of this program to the student’s Principal and the Principal submits the certification to the PIAA District Sport Chairman.

I'm asking for your support to not only suspend the player and Ref that allowed this, but to create real CHANGE in the PIAA system as a whole that sustains. This way we can create fair opportunities for all sports players and contestants for generations to come. Thank you.