NYSPHSAA Unfair To
Because the NYSPHSAA New York State Wrestling Committee refuses to waiver from its current discriminatory practice in certain state qualifying tournaments like New York State High School Wrestling, Joseph D. Morelle (D-Rochester) has introduced the “Fairness In Competition Bill" to the New York State Legislature.
The NYSPHSAA has refused to consider responsible proposals from the NYSWCA (New York State Wrestling Coaches Association) to level the playing field for New York State High School Wrestling and now this legislation is needed.
The “Fairness In Competition Bill” will force the NYSPHSAA New York State High School Wrestling Committee to adopt new rules for participation by kids in state championship events on the basis of athleticism, sportsmanship and performance and remove the current obsolete, 80 year old system of discriminating against the kids in larger sections.
The NYSWCA proposes a new two division format with guaranteed participation by kids in all sections. The new rules would simply expand the tournament with multiple-entry participation by adding additional kids based proportionately on the number of schools in each section. You can think of it as the same thing that’s used by the House of Representatives.
The kids who participate in New York State High School Wrestling deserve a state qualifying tournament format with multiple-entries to ensure the states best athletes get the exposure, college recruitment attention and that “experience of a lifetime” that they work so hard for.
View/download a copy of the Joseph D. Morelle (D-Rochester) “Fairness In Competition Bill” here.
What are the benefits for the kids?
- More college recruitment opportunities
- Extensive TV/Media coverage at larger arenas
- More incentive for participation at all levels of competition
- More kids get the “experience of a lifetime”
- Larger fan base means wrestling generates more revenue for the kids
- More kids participate at the best State Wrestling Championships in
Where does the discrimination exist?
The current 80 year old system discriminates in a number of areas…First, the kids from the larger sections must compete against opponents from up to 50 schools, while smaller sections have as little as 2 schools. In some cases the two best wrestlers in the state sometimes must compete in the sectional qualifying tournament which eliminates talented athletes from state competition.
This creates poor college recruitment opportunities for many athletes because they are unable to showcase their talents at the only wrestling event that receives widespread media and college recruitment attention.
New York State Wrestling has had a long history of poor recruitment by college wrestling programs compared to many other states like
What’s the deal with the NYSPHSAA Wrestling Committee?
The threat of legislation and their refusal to change has the NYSPHSAA “grabbing at straws” in a power struggle that clearly has their own interests ahead of the kids. Instead of looking at alternatives to help the student/athletes, they’ve stooped to the level of simply digging in their heels and resisting changing the system with a sleazy disinformation campaign. The letter they’ve wasted state taxpayer money to distribute to New York State High Schools is so blatantly untrue, only a hockey puck would believe what they’re using to defend their position.
One of the “doozies” is their opinion that changing the current system would disrupt the current regular season scheduling. Hmmm…Interesting, considering that the NYSPHSAA twisted itself into a pretzel to approve the scheduling changes needed to accommodate the New York State Football Tournament in the 90’s.
Point of fact, for New York State High School Wrestling, a multiple-entry format will have almost no impact on the current regular season schedule. It would simply allow more participants from the sectional qualifying tournaments to participate in the state tournament based on the size of the individual sections. You can read a copy of the NYSPHSAA disinformation campaign and untruths letter here and see how they’ve wasted taxpayer funds.
Why is this legislation needed?
You need to look no further than to see the annual anguish and disappointment on the faces of the athletes, their teammates and their families. This scene was played out at dozens of high schools across
No other sport requires the commitment to training, diet, strength, agility, flexibility, stamina and mental toughness as the sport of wrestling. Wrestling is one of the few sports where undersized student/athletes can compete, achieve success at the highest levels of competition and attract college recruiters. If you disagree, then go sit on a traffic cone, because you’re wrong.
As promised earlier, other kids from sports like swimming and track have an advantage because they merely have to meet time requirements to qualify for their New York State Tournaments. Hockey allows for additional participants based on the number of programs in individual sections. The NYSPHSAA New York State Wrestling Committee must stop sitting on its hands and adopt a multiple-entry state qualifying format that fairly allows wrestling participation equal to other sports.
In a recent survey, 300 high school head coaches and school superintendents were polled on their opinion of adopting a multiple-entry format for the New York State High School Wrestling Tournament. 134 responses were sent back…129 in favor of multiple entries and only 5 opposing it.
What are the experts saying?
The following is a quote from Jack Spates of the
Don Murray from SUNY Brockport said, “Anytime you can create more opportunities for kids to compete you have more young men come out and more staying with it. It becomes a trickle-down effect. There will be more fans and more publicity for schools.”
Greg Strobel from
What needs to be done and what can you do to help?
Over 30 years ago,
In
First, visit the NYSWCA website and get all the current information on this fight for these student/athletes. You can download updated information related to their fight to do this right. In addition, you can show your support for the enactment of the “Fairness In Competition Bill” by contacting your local senate and assembly representatives and urge them to support this bill and help the kids. Finding your representative is easy, there’s a link right on the NYSWCA website. Many of the files are in PDF format. You can download a free PDF reader from ADOBE here.
What happens if the NYSPHSAA refuses to budge and the legislation fails?
Wrestlers, their families and supporters are passionate about their sport The fight for change will continue with possible statewide boycotts of the corporate sponsors of the NYSPHSAA. Corporate sponsors of the NYSPHSAA need to become aware that their support of the NYSPHSAA and its refusal to pursue equality in statewide tournament participation could have a negative effect on their bottom line.
Why is this posted on an Internet business blog?
Because change is needed and it’s the right thing to do for the kids.
Rick Contrata