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Show Viewpoint By Jack Hill Little Dugway surprised everyone by capturing the 1A title. But up the month of January, Dugway's star player was a student at a Utah County high school and on the varsity basketball team at that school. When he was dropped from the team for . "disciplinary" reasons he enrolled at Dugway and led the Mustangs to a state championship. Was it right? Mountain View lived up to its number one ranking in both girls and boys basketball. The star on the girls team lived in another city and only after repeated hearings, discussions, and reversals of previous decisions, was she allowed to compete with the team. It's fairly safe to say that she would not have gone through the ordeal had not Mt. View been a state contender. Was it right? State Tournament time generates interest, loyalty and enthusiasm for those teams and towns involved. Being able to say, 'We're number one" is something that every player and' fan would like to legitimately make. . Bountiful, Mountain View, Hurricane and Dugway were crowned champions and the record books shows these teams as "number one." They have the trophies to prove it. After the awards assemblies and newspaper accounts have dimmed, there remains some questions about three of these teams and the general direction that high school athletics is , drifting. Three of the four mentioned ! champions had certain team mem bers that were on the team under unusual if not questionable circumstances. cir-cumstances. Bountiful's team was built around two players who were playing high school basketball a year after their academic class had graduated. A "special" ruling allowed one player to have an extra year of high school eligibility. The other player in question went through the ninth grade at one Davis County high school and then enrolled as a sophomore at Bountiful. Between the two events an entire school year elapsed. No one seems to know, or won't say, where the boy was during the missing year. Schools here in Utah County have appealed for and received special rulings to allow boys to participate an extra year in athletics. But is it right? The Bruins' boys championship squad was built around three "move-ins." "move-ins." People are free to move in the public school systems but hopefully the reason for moving is not for athletics only. Colleges found it necessary to adopt rules to discourage athletes from moving between schools and high schools will have to look at this problem with the idea of adopting similar rules. In the above cited cases, apparently there was no "rule" that was violated. At least none that was enforced. en-forced. But has the ideal and purpose of high school athletics been honestly served? Or do we seriously need to examine the direction and goals of high school athletics and make some changes? I think so. |