Staff discusses enforcement of athletic code
Staff Editorial
His hands shake the computer mouse as it wanders over the send button. He glances up at his coach’s email address, and again at the pictures he has attached. Posted to his teammate’s Snap Story, they show him holding a bottle of alcohol and playing beer pong. Since it would be his first offense, his teammate should lose his captainship, as well as 20 percent of his playing time and mandatory participation in a family assistance program.
Keeping his concern for his teammate’s well-being and these consequences in mind, he clicks send.
Days of practice go by, and he waits for the moment when his coach pulls his teammate aside and tells him of his punishment. However, that moment never comes. The season passes in a flash, his teammate playing in every game, flaunting his captainship at pep rallies, and still partying on the weekends. He wonders what has caused this injustice. Did his coach just choose to ignore it? In this cases, yes.
This imbalance of punishment seen within UAHS’ athletic code is not a problem with the code itself, but rather the enforcement of it. As was discovered through an interview conducted with Athletic Director Tony Pusateri, he isn’t sure if all athletes are punished for code violations, because coaches don’t inform him of every possible violation. If he does not know that a violation is occurring, there is essentially nothing that he can do about it.
Thus, in order to make the enforcement of the athletic code more just, the involvement of both athletes, parents and coaches will be needed. For athletes and parents, if you suspect that a teammate is violating the athletic code and feel obliged to tell someone, make sure that that person is the athletic director or administration, not just a coach. On the other hand, coaches can help by reporting all known violations to the athletic director, regardless of the player’s ability and position on their team.
If these steps are taken, we can ensure that enforcement of the athletic code will no longer be taken lightly, and violators will be held accountable for their actions.