

Winning isn't all that matters in prep sports

9:50 PM, Apr. 29, 2014  |  Comments
WIAA schools will study a proposal to multiply the enrollment of private, religious and independent schools at state tournaments by 1.65 to create competitive balance.
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We want our teams - our kids' high school teams, our alma maters - to win, but the system is rigged so they don't always win. That's bad. It must be those private schools, recruiting the best athletes. Yeah, that's it. That's why we're not winning. We hate not winning, and it's time to do something about it.

That is roughly the logic behind the decision at the statewide meeting of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association this month in Stevens Point to create a committee to study whether to recommend a "competitive multiplier" for Wisconsin high school sports.

One proposal would count each private-school student as more than a student-and-a-half, multiplying private-school enrollment by 1.65, resulting in their matchups with bigger public schools. At the WIAA meeting, many administrators argued that 1.65 would be too high a multiplier. The committee will form in May, will report back to district meetings in September and issue a final recommendation by Dec. 1.

We can save them the time. The entire discussion is absurd.

For one thing, competition in high school athletics is not nearly so unbalanced as the claims of grumbling fans would have it. Every sport and every division has its powerhouses and perennial champions, but the list is by no means dominated by private schools.

For another, doesn't the existence of open enrollment in public schools potentially create some of the same conflicts, with specific schools or programs capable of snatching up another public school's "native" talent? Why pick only on private schools?

The bigger picture here, though, is the sad spectacle of a bunch of grownups nursing resentments against rival schools and treating winning - not just games but championships - as the only thing of value in high school sports.

It is bad enough that the multibillion-dollar industry of collegiate sports requires its unpaid employees to pretend to be "student-athletes" as invested in an education as they are in competing. Can we please stop that toxic ethos from permeating the way we view high school sports?

Like the NCAA, the WIAA is an organization of sports bureaucrats, highly susceptible to the internal politics of interest groups and rivalries. It seems clear that it is only reacting to an existing strain of chatter and debate within the community that cares intensely about high school athletics. In that light, it is better to form an ad hoc committee to study the matter for a year than to take a rash vote based on incomplete information.

Maybe the discussion will help fill in some of the obvious gaps: Why 1.65 as opposed to 1.25, or 5.75? Why would Wisconsin emulate a system that has been perceived as a failure in Illinois?

It is not in the WIAA's nature to examine its own underlying assumptions. But as long as it is considering the questions, here are two: What does this proposal say to our children? Aren't we seeking to instill other, bigger values in our youth - teamwork, discipline, perseverance, pride - than simply the idea that a season without a championship trophy is a failure?

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