Last week, the STA soccer team played their first game against Christ Preparatory Academy. Although we spread the team 10-0 with 35 minutes left in the second half, three of our players were missing from the field. Senior Kerry Cummings and freshmen Morgan Trees and Mickey Redlingschaffer were perfectly healthy and able to play, but they weren’t allowed to participate in the game. Wanna know why? They didn’t have enough practices.
The Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) has a rule that prohibits athletes from participating in an official game until they attend 14 days of practice.
Before our first game last Tuesday, our team had 15 practices/meetings. Kerry, Morgan and Mickey each missed at least two days of practices, therefore they became ineligible to play in the first game.
I am not completely informed on the meaning behind this rule and neither is the varsity soccer coach Scott Siegel, but he assumed the rule is implemented to insure athletes are healthy and physically prepared to play in a game. If this is in fact the reason for this rule, I think it is outdated and ineffective.
Here are two scenarios that prove MSHSAA’s rule is not achieving what it supposedly is intended to do:
- An unhealthy or injured athlete could have attended all of our 15 practices and been 100% eligible to participate in our first game, while a healthy athlete might only have attended 13 and not be eligible.
- An injured or perfectly healthy athlete for that matter could attend 14 days of meetings as opposed to practices and be able to play in their first game, yet that does not mean that they are healthy or prepared to play.
So Kerry, Morgan and Mickey, I am sorry you couldn’t play in our first game. We all know that you should have been on the field with us, but couldn’t because of this outdated and ineffective rule.
