Posted on

The Case for High School Sports

RHS fields

photo by Boyd Loving

By  Colleen Maguire, NJSIAA Chief Operating Officer NJSIAA

Ridgewood NJ, During the past five months, the lives of our student-athletes have changed drastically.  Last March, NJSIAA made the difficult decision to shut down high school sports.  That decision was necessary to slow infections and to allow for mitigation efforts to be established.  However, cancelling high school sports has come at a significant cost – the emotional and social well-being of our student-athletes.  We need to return to sports this fall.

Continue reading The Case for High School Sports

Posted on

The (interscholastic) sports bill would allow massive consolidation in high school sports and create super all star school districts .

RHS fields

file photo by Boyd Loving

January 11,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, concerns mounts over S 3447, the (interscholastic) sports bill. The bill would allow massive consolidation in high school sports and create super all star school districts .

If you think this could put Ridgewood High school at a disadvantage , Please call Gov. Christie’s office today! Your courteous message can be as simple as this: “Please veto S 3447, the (interscholastic) sports bill.

Critics claim this bill will hurt small school districts, charter schools, and home schools. After it was mangled by hastily added last minute amendments, not even one Republican lawmaker supported it, not even Democratic Senator Paul Sarlo, and not even its GOP co-sponsor, Diane Allen. Not even the NJ high school sports association (NJSIAA) supports it as it creates big powerhouse teams at the expense of small schools. It was rushed through without thought to its unintended harmful consequences, and it should be VETOED by the Governor.”

If the staff member is hurried fielding calls about 100+ bills awaiting the Governor’s action before his tenure ends in 5 days, just say “Please VETO S3447 – the Sports Bill.” If a longer conversation develops, home schoolers may wish to check out the “Background” below from HSLDA and me. But, noting the diverse opposition, it very seriously affects far more than home schooler’s and should be VETOED!

If the phone is busy, keep calling. Husbands and wives count as separate voters; both should call! It is unnecessary to identify yourself other than as a concerned citizen/taxpayer.

Please pass this on quickly to others. Thank you for standing with us for freedom and liberty! And, similarly, when you end your phone call with the Governor’s Office, please offer your own loud and clear “Thank You.”

Posted on

Broken promises & disposable players: The remarkable story behind a high school sports scandal

Paterson Eastside High School

By Matthew Stanmyre and Steve Politi | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on April 04, 2017 at 7:03 AM, updated April 04, 2017 at 5:12 PM

Andrea Aquino began her journey in Paraguay. At 6-foot-7, people in her village thought she was a freak — all arms and legs clinging to the motorcycle she and her mother sold clothes from to support themselves.

Selwyn Rodriguez and Christian Ortiz started their odyssey in Puerto Rico. Once in the mainland United States, Ortiz slept on piles of laundry and cold floors, while Rodriguez lived with a stranger who openly used drugs.

And Blessing Ejiofor landed in the U.S. on the fast track to college, via Nigeria, but her dreams were crushed by the adults she trusted most. That trust has cost her a scholarship to Vanderbilt and forced her back to Africa, where she remains a prisoner of immigration rules.

Four players from three continents — all bound by the same dream and pitch: Leave your friends and family behind, travel thousands of miles and use basketball to find a better life.

https://www.nj.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/04/hollow_promises_and_disposable_players_how_hs_hoop.html?ath=a661ed5d8cb41fa9dc524c06f451a07d#cmpid=nsltr_stryheadline

Posted on

School forged transcripts in Paterson hoops scandal. See the documents

Paterson Eastside High School

By Matthew Stanmyre and Steve Politi | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 08, 2017 at 7:33 AM, updated March 08, 2017 at 7:40 AM

Multiple basketball players at the center of a broadening scandal at Paterson Eastside High entered the school with transcripts that were incomplete, altered or fraudulent, NJ Advance Media has learned.

In two cases, transcripts for Nigerian student-athletes did not match their previous stop at a private school in northern Idaho, according to documents obtained by NJ Advance Media and interviews with school officials.

The most brazen example shows a player’s transcript from 2012-13 — when he would have been in the equivalent of the sixth grade — was crudely forged and presented as his work for the 2015-16 school year in Nigeria, even though he was enrolled in Idaho. While the class year on the barely readable transcript was changed, the player’s classes, grades and academic standing were all left the same.

https://www.nj.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/03/forged_transcript_raises_more_paterson_eastside_co.html?ath=9c46bfc08d76232bb5a5e00eeaf0bfa2#cmpid=nsltr_stryphoto

Posted on

High School Sports : Time to redefine what a winner is

maple+field1-300x19911

FEBRUARY 2, 2016, 11:09 AM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016, 11:12 AM
BY DARREN COOPER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

The enterprise of North Jersey high school sports seemingly gets sicker by the day.

At this point, it’s almost a given that some coach, school, parent or athlete is cheating or acting inappropriately nearly every day.

There is no justification. There is no explanation. There is no excuse.

And it needs to stop.

Why do coaches use athletes who aren’t physically healthy? Why do coaches feel the need to berate kids publicly and privately? How in the world does a parent get into a physical confrontation with a coach during a football practice, as in what happened in October at St. Joseph? How does a coach allow eighth-graders to practice with a high school wrestling team, like the incident last month at Don Bosco?

The list of incidents goes on and on — just since the fall.

Why do schools allow kids to be athletic free agents and jump ship while sometimes using phony change of addresses as the pretense to transfer? What makes a parent reach out to an athlete, already in high school, and tell him he should play sports somewhere else so he can get noticed and attract that college scholarship?

Who would write “White girls are soft” on a dry-erase board before a girls basketball game, as, according to one coach, happened last weekend at the Bergen County tournament? Who would think “Blackensack,” the hashtag posted last week to the private Instagram account of Paramus wrestler Nick Ciambrone along with a photo of a Caucasian wrestler in a white Paramus singlet wrestling an African-American wrestler in a dark singlet, is clever or funny?

The thing that’s funny? The people who are cheating or acting inappropriately: You’re the loser. Really. You’re just the last one to know.

Your victories count, but they’re hollow. Your championships are glorious, but they’re tainted

https://www.northjersey.com/news/cooper-time-to-redefine-what-a-winner-is-1.1503940