So the last couple of weeks have been crazy busy - we moved and I managed to get an abscessed tooth. Not fun. Then on Tuesday, I hear about a school in New Jersey changing their sports policy to allow basically any student who wants on a team to be on said team. I need to admit here and now, before putting down the rest of my thoughts, that I don't know anything more than a few very vague details. Apparently, a student got so upset at not making the team, their parents complained to get them on causing the school to change its policy. Again, I do not know the specifics. I could have any number of things wrong with the story I heard.
As for what I wanted to say about this "more inclusive" policy, I am in two minds about it. On one hand, I am glad that kids who are serious about a sport but perhaps aren't as talented as others get to join their sports team, however, I am also upset at the even less realistic competitive environment this school seems to be promoting. To explain what I mean: When these same students attempt to get a job, will this make them think they should be hired despite possibly not being qualified because they were allowed to join a competitive team in high school but did not necessarily have the talent to back up the position received. On the other hand, those who have focused and truly want to go on to become professionals in said sport may not get the chance because of the lack of ability to show how good they truly are to scouts for both college teams/scholarships and the professional teams.
What it comes down to is it could be good depending on how this new policy is implemented. If, for example, they have a tiered system where all those who try-out automatically make a team but the team made is dependant on skill and talent. Those who are dedicated and constantly practice make the higher competitive teams and those who thought they were able to get by without putting in the effort would be on the least competitive team. Thinking about it, it would be similar to that of how most bands and academic teams function. Those who are willing to put in the time and effort, get to be in the most wanted positions, but those who aren't willing to work hard to keep that position could end up basically being an equipment manager or last chance alternate.
If, however, they just let them join with no extra plan to ensure that those who are dedicated to what happens to be their passion can both pursue and be recognized for it, then it could truly be a detriment for everyone in that school. Of course, I don't know what is involved in the actual plans for this particular school's new policy, but there will be those who are not willing to even give it a chance. Because of this, there could be a lot of good from the policy that gets diminished. At the same time, there are going to be those who can see no problems with the new policy. The issue with that would be no making the policy better by looking at the problems and finding a way to fix them.
Again, I don't know specifics with this, but these were my thoughts based on the small amount of information I had regarding them.
I'm posting this a day late mostly because of the move and then Mother's Day (which I hope all mothers had a wonderfully relaxing day!) Also, my computer still hasn't been put back together after the move, so I had to borrow my husband's.
