Post by John Tawa-VolleyballMag.com on Oct 29, 2014 18:34:48 GMT -5
I just posted this story on PrepVolleyball.com, but I know you volleytalkers will want to comment on it, so here it is, in full:
"Fun On the Sand Beaches Dozens of Orange County Players"
A Sunday of beach volleyball frivolity in Huntington Beach has left one elite indoor team staring at forfeiting a league title, several others having to play two matches without their suspended stars and parents and administrators calling “Foul!” on the CIF-Southern Section for their handling of the matter.
Several dozen indoor players took time off from the indoor grind last Sunday to have a little fun. They played in a coed, four-player tournament called “Fall Fours/Halloween Haunt,” in which everyone dressed up in costumes, sets were played without referees, winners were determined by the first team to get to 21 points and all proceeds went to support the Long Beach State men’s volleyball program.
The Southern Section of the California Interscholastic Federation, which governs indoor volleyball at the high school level but which does not sanction beach volleyball, has a rule, Bylaw 600, which denies a student eligibility to play if she competes on an “outside team” in the same sport during the student’s high school season of sport.
Tournament Director Therese Butler and several parents, aware of this rule, contacted the Southern Section to determine whether beach volleyball is considered the “same sport” as indoor volleyball, thus triggering the rule. Butler, who has been running this event for several years, made a formal inquiry in 2013 and a less formal one in late September. The parents made theirs at various times in September. The response they received from the Southern Section, both from Assistant Commissioner in charge of volleyball Brandi Stuart and Administrative Assistant Kim Willeman, a former state-championship-winning head volleyball coach at Bishop Montgomery, was uniform: Bylaw 600 did NOT apply because the CIF does not consider beach volleyball to be a CIF sport and that all interested could play without repercussion.
One day after the tournament, the Southern Section determined that participants had violated the rule on dual participation and would be suspended two matches as a result. As for what the CIF told the parents one month before, well, those were “miscommunications and misunderstandings,” Stuart wrote in an email.
“This whole situation is wrong,” Butler said. “To have so many of us (including me last year) ask the same question and all us independently get the same answer from either Kim or Brandi, two representatives of CIF, that said it was OK for the girls to play and then to reverse this after the fact, is wrong in so many ways.”
Understandably, parents whose daughters were affected by the ruling are irate.
“This is wrong,” said Lisa Hansen, the mother of Sedona Hansen, a Tennessee recruit and one of the best junior setters in the country. “You’re the governing body of CIF. This is not how you’re supposed to operate. When you screw up you admit you did it. That’s not what the CIF is doing and it’s affecting 22-plus kids when we did everything right.”
Hansen is an Assistant Principal at Serrano High School, a CIF member school. She called the Southern Section offices on Sept. 18 because she had heard from another parent that Sedona’s participation in the Fall Fours might jeopardize her high school eligibility status even though Sedona participated in 2013 without incident. Hansen said she spoke to Stuart, who said "beach volleyball is not a sanctioned CIF sport; therefore CIF rules would not apply." Stuart added that the girls are free to play in any beach event and maintained that position even as Hansen clarified that this was a 4-on-4 tournament.
After the call to the Southern Section, Hansen sent out a text message memorializing her conversation:
“Good news! I called CIF and beach volleyball is considered a different sport than indoor and beach volleyball is not a CIF sanctioned sport so they can play. I specifically asked about it being 4 on 4 and they are fine.”
Hansen was not the only parent to contact the Southern Section about the Fall Fours. Becky Walley called 11 days later and also spoke to Stuart. She wanted to verify that the girls would not jeopardize their high school status if they played in this four-man tournament. Walley said that Stuart confirmed they could play and that the CIF did not recognize beach volleyball.
“I asked several times in different ways to make sure I covered all the bases and she assured me that they could legally play and that the tournament director could call her to verify,” Walley said.
Ian Dyer also called the Southern Section offices on Sept. 29 and spoke to Willeman who said that CIF athletes are free to play beach volleyball tournaments during the indoor season regardless of whether a beach volleyball team had four, five or six players on it because CIF doesn’t consider beach volleyball a CIF sport and the restrictions set forth in Bylaw 600 did not apply.
“This was NOT an issue of miscommunication,” Dyer said. “I called CIF for ONE REASON: to ask whether playing in the 4-Man violated Rule 600. I got a clear, unequivocal answer, which I relied on and immediately communicated to others verbatim in writing.”
On Monday, when the CIF issued the suspensions, Bylaw 600 provided the basis for its ruling together with Bylaw 600.A, which states:
“If the outside team has half or more of the team members as stated in the National Federation Rule Book for that sport, it shall be considered the same sport. Examples: three on three basketball – outside team competition prohibited, two on two volleyball – outside team competition permitted.”
Nationally-ranked Santa Margarita High School played a match Monday not knowing that one player had been on the sand in Huntington Beach the day before. Now, the Eagles’ sweep of Rosary, and the Trinity League title that goes along with it, is subject to forfeiture.
“We’re still holding out hope,” said head coach Katy Daly, who added that the affected player would not have been allowed to even dress for the match had she known that her eligibility was in question. Daly said that Rosary’s head coach and several Trinity League principals are all trying to get the CIF to reverse its stance on the win.
Daly also wondered how this situation differed from one involving the JSerra football team earlier in October. There, a JSerra player ejected from the JV game the day before dressed but did not participate in the varsity game versus Santa Margarita. Ejected players are suspended and thus ineligible to dress, but JSerra was not sanctioned for its transgression because the school called CIF to inquire which player was banned and did not receive a response before game time. How is this any different since we did not know, Daly asked, other than this is volleyball not football?
Huntington Beach, in line for its first league title since 2009, had three varsity members suspended, starting with Tuesday’s match versus Newport Harbor. Head coach Craig Pazanti said he did not know his girls played in the Fall Fours and only found out when a parent called the school’s athletic director to warn him about what happened. Playing without 60 percent of their offense, the Oilers had other players step up and pulled out the win.
Pazanti said he had several issues with the CIF’s decision, including responding to parents one way and then ruling just the opposite.
“The parents did their due diligence to ask before they entered,” he said. “I have a hard time believing everybody who called all misinterpreted what they were saying.”
Pazanti also pointed out specific provisions in the CIF Bylaws distinguishing flag and touch football from tackle football and indoor soccer from outdoor soccer, such that players could play both during the same season.
“But it’s not okay to play sand, which is a different sport?” he questioned.
Actually, it’s perfectly fine to play sand, so long as only two play on a side. The bylaws make clear that two girls playing volleyball “two on two,” even indoors, is okay. Two girls playing on the sand with two guys, “four on four,” apparently is not, even though no competitive advantage is gained.
One other interesting aspect of this case is that the CIF is saying it is relying on its member schools to self-report, even though there is evidence that Stuart has been working to identify all who played “before we have student-athletes playing in matches as ineligible athletes in future matches.” There are no official records of who participated in the Fall Fours, meaning some kids and their teams will be penalized, including seniors who will miss their Senior Night ceremonies, while other players who do not come forward will not be penalized.
“Penalizing kids for doing the right thing?” one high school coach asked. “It’s a terrible situation for the kids.”
Two to three weeks ago, and at least one week after the Sept. 29 phone calls noted above, Lakewood coach Mike Wadley said he called the CIF to ask about the Fall Fours tournament. The father of one of his talented freshmen had called CIF to make sure she could play and was told that she could, but Wadley followed up out of an abundance of caution. Stuart told him that his players could not play because it was a 4-on-4 tournament.
Assuming that the parents did not misunderstand what they were told in September, why the change in position by the CIF? Did Stuart and Willeman simply get it wrong when first asked about it or is there something else at play?
We likely will never know. When asked to explain, Thom Simmons, the Southern Section’s longtime Director of Communications, said, “We have commented to the extent we will be commenting on this subject. ‘He said, she said’ situations serve no purpose and we will not engage in them.”
“To be honest parents are not our stakeholders,” Simmons added. “The member schools are our constituents and we are answerable to them, not parents. So, on that front I can only offer that the affected schools have self-reported the sanctions and have applied them to their programs and the student-athletes involved. This office considers the matter closed.”
The parents, however, believe this matter is very much open to debate.
“They’re the adults in this and are lying about what happened,” one said. “The people who did the right thing are getting screwed in this.”
"Fun On the Sand Beaches Dozens of Orange County Players"
A Sunday of beach volleyball frivolity in Huntington Beach has left one elite indoor team staring at forfeiting a league title, several others having to play two matches without their suspended stars and parents and administrators calling “Foul!” on the CIF-Southern Section for their handling of the matter.
Several dozen indoor players took time off from the indoor grind last Sunday to have a little fun. They played in a coed, four-player tournament called “Fall Fours/Halloween Haunt,” in which everyone dressed up in costumes, sets were played without referees, winners were determined by the first team to get to 21 points and all proceeds went to support the Long Beach State men’s volleyball program.
The Southern Section of the California Interscholastic Federation, which governs indoor volleyball at the high school level but which does not sanction beach volleyball, has a rule, Bylaw 600, which denies a student eligibility to play if she competes on an “outside team” in the same sport during the student’s high school season of sport.
Tournament Director Therese Butler and several parents, aware of this rule, contacted the Southern Section to determine whether beach volleyball is considered the “same sport” as indoor volleyball, thus triggering the rule. Butler, who has been running this event for several years, made a formal inquiry in 2013 and a less formal one in late September. The parents made theirs at various times in September. The response they received from the Southern Section, both from Assistant Commissioner in charge of volleyball Brandi Stuart and Administrative Assistant Kim Willeman, a former state-championship-winning head volleyball coach at Bishop Montgomery, was uniform: Bylaw 600 did NOT apply because the CIF does not consider beach volleyball to be a CIF sport and that all interested could play without repercussion.
One day after the tournament, the Southern Section determined that participants had violated the rule on dual participation and would be suspended two matches as a result. As for what the CIF told the parents one month before, well, those were “miscommunications and misunderstandings,” Stuart wrote in an email.
“This whole situation is wrong,” Butler said. “To have so many of us (including me last year) ask the same question and all us independently get the same answer from either Kim or Brandi, two representatives of CIF, that said it was OK for the girls to play and then to reverse this after the fact, is wrong in so many ways.”
Understandably, parents whose daughters were affected by the ruling are irate.
“This is wrong,” said Lisa Hansen, the mother of Sedona Hansen, a Tennessee recruit and one of the best junior setters in the country. “You’re the governing body of CIF. This is not how you’re supposed to operate. When you screw up you admit you did it. That’s not what the CIF is doing and it’s affecting 22-plus kids when we did everything right.”
Hansen is an Assistant Principal at Serrano High School, a CIF member school. She called the Southern Section offices on Sept. 18 because she had heard from another parent that Sedona’s participation in the Fall Fours might jeopardize her high school eligibility status even though Sedona participated in 2013 without incident. Hansen said she spoke to Stuart, who said "beach volleyball is not a sanctioned CIF sport; therefore CIF rules would not apply." Stuart added that the girls are free to play in any beach event and maintained that position even as Hansen clarified that this was a 4-on-4 tournament.
After the call to the Southern Section, Hansen sent out a text message memorializing her conversation:
“Good news! I called CIF and beach volleyball is considered a different sport than indoor and beach volleyball is not a CIF sanctioned sport so they can play. I specifically asked about it being 4 on 4 and they are fine.”
Hansen was not the only parent to contact the Southern Section about the Fall Fours. Becky Walley called 11 days later and also spoke to Stuart. She wanted to verify that the girls would not jeopardize their high school status if they played in this four-man tournament. Walley said that Stuart confirmed they could play and that the CIF did not recognize beach volleyball.
“I asked several times in different ways to make sure I covered all the bases and she assured me that they could legally play and that the tournament director could call her to verify,” Walley said.
Ian Dyer also called the Southern Section offices on Sept. 29 and spoke to Willeman who said that CIF athletes are free to play beach volleyball tournaments during the indoor season regardless of whether a beach volleyball team had four, five or six players on it because CIF doesn’t consider beach volleyball a CIF sport and the restrictions set forth in Bylaw 600 did not apply.
“This was NOT an issue of miscommunication,” Dyer said. “I called CIF for ONE REASON: to ask whether playing in the 4-Man violated Rule 600. I got a clear, unequivocal answer, which I relied on and immediately communicated to others verbatim in writing.”
On Monday, when the CIF issued the suspensions, Bylaw 600 provided the basis for its ruling together with Bylaw 600.A, which states:
“If the outside team has half or more of the team members as stated in the National Federation Rule Book for that sport, it shall be considered the same sport. Examples: three on three basketball – outside team competition prohibited, two on two volleyball – outside team competition permitted.”
Nationally-ranked Santa Margarita High School played a match Monday not knowing that one player had been on the sand in Huntington Beach the day before. Now, the Eagles’ sweep of Rosary, and the Trinity League title that goes along with it, is subject to forfeiture.
“We’re still holding out hope,” said head coach Katy Daly, who added that the affected player would not have been allowed to even dress for the match had she known that her eligibility was in question. Daly said that Rosary’s head coach and several Trinity League principals are all trying to get the CIF to reverse its stance on the win.
Daly also wondered how this situation differed from one involving the JSerra football team earlier in October. There, a JSerra player ejected from the JV game the day before dressed but did not participate in the varsity game versus Santa Margarita. Ejected players are suspended and thus ineligible to dress, but JSerra was not sanctioned for its transgression because the school called CIF to inquire which player was banned and did not receive a response before game time. How is this any different since we did not know, Daly asked, other than this is volleyball not football?
Huntington Beach, in line for its first league title since 2009, had three varsity members suspended, starting with Tuesday’s match versus Newport Harbor. Head coach Craig Pazanti said he did not know his girls played in the Fall Fours and only found out when a parent called the school’s athletic director to warn him about what happened. Playing without 60 percent of their offense, the Oilers had other players step up and pulled out the win.
Pazanti said he had several issues with the CIF’s decision, including responding to parents one way and then ruling just the opposite.
“The parents did their due diligence to ask before they entered,” he said. “I have a hard time believing everybody who called all misinterpreted what they were saying.”
Pazanti also pointed out specific provisions in the CIF Bylaws distinguishing flag and touch football from tackle football and indoor soccer from outdoor soccer, such that players could play both during the same season.
“But it’s not okay to play sand, which is a different sport?” he questioned.
Actually, it’s perfectly fine to play sand, so long as only two play on a side. The bylaws make clear that two girls playing volleyball “two on two,” even indoors, is okay. Two girls playing on the sand with two guys, “four on four,” apparently is not, even though no competitive advantage is gained.
One other interesting aspect of this case is that the CIF is saying it is relying on its member schools to self-report, even though there is evidence that Stuart has been working to identify all who played “before we have student-athletes playing in matches as ineligible athletes in future matches.” There are no official records of who participated in the Fall Fours, meaning some kids and their teams will be penalized, including seniors who will miss their Senior Night ceremonies, while other players who do not come forward will not be penalized.
“Penalizing kids for doing the right thing?” one high school coach asked. “It’s a terrible situation for the kids.”
Two to three weeks ago, and at least one week after the Sept. 29 phone calls noted above, Lakewood coach Mike Wadley said he called the CIF to ask about the Fall Fours tournament. The father of one of his talented freshmen had called CIF to make sure she could play and was told that she could, but Wadley followed up out of an abundance of caution. Stuart told him that his players could not play because it was a 4-on-4 tournament.
Assuming that the parents did not misunderstand what they were told in September, why the change in position by the CIF? Did Stuart and Willeman simply get it wrong when first asked about it or is there something else at play?
We likely will never know. When asked to explain, Thom Simmons, the Southern Section’s longtime Director of Communications, said, “We have commented to the extent we will be commenting on this subject. ‘He said, she said’ situations serve no purpose and we will not engage in them.”
“To be honest parents are not our stakeholders,” Simmons added. “The member schools are our constituents and we are answerable to them, not parents. So, on that front I can only offer that the affected schools have self-reported the sanctions and have applied them to their programs and the student-athletes involved. This office considers the matter closed.”
The parents, however, believe this matter is very much open to debate.
“They’re the adults in this and are lying about what happened,” one said. “The people who did the right thing are getting screwed in this.”