As you may have heard by now, the MHSIBCA board has taken upon themselves to be the driving force behind this change which is completely unacceptable. No other Winter sports are making concessions with their rosters to compete at the most important Showcase tournament of the season.

Some of the reasons given by the board for this decision include:

* 7th person is not important and is usually a non competitive individual that is just taking up space. Mind you this was an 8 person roster just a few short years ago.

* Cost of schools that travel far distances to compete - 1. They should have an option to bring a full roster or not. 2. How about doing some fundraising throughout the year if this is an issue...and what is the % of these schools traveling far distances, less than 5-10%?

* The board made this decision without consulting a majority of the coaches/leagues across the State. They used the excuse that if you weren't on the annual Zoom call at the beginning of the year when this was discussed. (Why was this not posted on the MHSIBCA website on the front page?) I think we know why.

* Covid concerns - I get this and it's an easy alibi. Meanwhile all jamborees are a go, 10k-100k fans are allowed in arenas and stadiums all year, gymnasiums are well attended for basketball games, bowling centers are packed with leagues. They restricted the number of members a bowler could have last year, why not now if the number of bowlers in a center is a concern? 

This decision seems to be made out of pure convenience because of how smoothly the tournament ran last year than it is about the kids that competed all year for this opportunity. 

Ask the board if any one of the following Winter sports has cut back in their rosters for Regionals…my guess is NONE!

* Boys and Girls Swimming and Diving
* Team Wrestling
* Girls Competitive Cheer
* Individual Wrestling
* Girls Gymnastics
* Ice Hockey
* Boys and Girls Basketball

I'd be willing to bet if they did to anyone of these sports the Coaches and ADs would be in a uproar and tell MHSAA to take a flying leap. But since we are a sport that is not respected (yet the highest participated varsity sport) in the State and it is time to change that. When our leadership doesn't even want to listen to the majority we have a problem.

With all that said, please sign the petition and pass it around and lets try to take care of these kids and not cheat them because a tournament is easier to run.