SoCAL HS: EDITORIAL: CIF Finally Does Right by its Athletes
April 8th, 2010
By Nathan Max
WSL Executive Editor
On May 29, 2007, I wrote the following editorial lambasting the CIF-San Diego Section for choosing to put its desires ahead of its own athletes with regard to when it stages its girls lacrosse championship game.
Finally, three years later, CIF has recoiled from its intransigent stance and done the right thing. It is moving its boys and girls lacrosse postseason tournament forward two days to accommodate elite girls lacrosse players, so they can participate in the Women’s Division National Tournament.
I think I speak for a lot of people when I say the following: Thank you, CIF.
Every year, on Memorial Day weekend, the top girls lacrosse players from across the country go to the East Coast to compete in the WDNT. Every region in the country holds tryouts and sends all-star teams to this event. It is the end-all, be-all for any girl hoping to get recruited to an NCAA Division I program.
In 2006, the San Diego Section staged its championship games on the third Saturday in May. The next year, it pushed the games back to Memorial Day weekend, causing an uproar in the local girls lacrosse community that hasn’t subsided. This year, legal briefs were filed with the state in an attempt to get the games moved.
Finally, common sense has prevailed at some level.
It is completely unfair to make teenage girls chose between competing for a championship and thinking about their own future. Although there are a few more recruiting opportunities for girls players in San Diego than in the past, they are still few and far between. Is it a coincidence that three years into this policy, only one senior female from San Diego has committed to an NCAA Division I program? There used to be far more.
“I think it’s a great step forward, but we don’t know what the future is,” Helix Charter head coach Audrey Wallace said. “We don’t know if it’s just for this year, so we’re just taking this one step at a time.”
This needs to be a permanent fix. Does it really cause that big of a problem to push the playoffs forward two days?
As I wrote three years ago, CIF’s top priority should be making the right decision for its athletes. Although this is long overdue, it has finally been done that in this case.
Now, CIF needs to continue to put its athletes needs first next year and the year after and the year after that.
CIF Finally Does Right....
I, too, am glad to finally see a decision made in support of girls' lacrosse and their ability to now compete, without penalty, in the WDNT this year. This was no small feat and took the efforts of many parents and girls sharing information and speaking to the Board of Managers after getting nowhere with Commissioner Ackerman. Many thanks to the Board of Managers, who gave the Commissioner the direction to "make it work." It was not surprising, however, that "making it work" included changing the boys' championship dates (a request NOT made by the girls) which then generated a request by the boys to move it back. Commissioner Ackerman's response was to then support a move for BOTH girls and boys back to the original date. While that request was overridden by the Board of Managers, it is concerning that the possibility existed for the girls. I am not convinced that this issue has been resolved for girls in the future. We, as parents, will continue to be vigilant on behalf of our girls and their ability to pursue their dreams at the college level- just as the boys do.
CIF "gets it"?
Well like the old saying goes, "even a blind squirrel"... oh well let's give them some credit. Let''s see, "lead a horse to water"? nah too easy.
What was the log jam in the brain for? Did it really take a lawsuit threat to CIF to get them to look out their ivory tower and see the barbarians at the gate? They are clearly not above the logic of listening and reasoning, seeing a point and finding a solution to the betterment of the whole. But I guess when there has never been such an obvious oversight put right under your eyes and you claim to be tied up with more important things, then just doing your job. It actually got done.
Why is there such a reluctance for the commisioner to support girls athletics than their male counterparts? Dennis shame on you for wasting all the time of the people who had to "educate" you in doing your job. Too bad yours is not an elected one because it would enatail some accountability and accomplishment quotas.
Your still my "turkey" of the year.