Scheduling disqualified the undefeated team from state tourney

Imagine going undefeated in regular season and then being disqualified because an administrator accidentally scheduled an extra match-up.  And to boot, you win the extra match-up!

Is this the team’s fault?  The coaches?  In the end, it didn’t matter.  An undefeated girls’ volleyball team had to forfeit their place in the state tournament, regardless.

Safeguarding student athlete eligibility is critical.  But the old adage that “what doesn’t get measured, doesn’t get managed” seems to still apply.

I am one of those people who actually believes that in the vast majority of situations like these, it really just is that we are human and that things get by us. 

Can we fault someone for adding an extra match into a schedule?  Technically we can.  But can we do it when we haven’t given them the tools and the resources to make sure that it doesn’t happen.  The line there gets fuzzy.

I have to hand it to the AD at the school though.  The following statement taken from a post on the Columbian demonstrates class…

“An extra game was mistakenly added to the calender, and District 4 exercised (its) authority to remove (King’s Way) from the state tournament,” said Luke Gillock, the athletic director at King’s Way, through a press release Tuesday evening. “An appeal was made to both the district board and subsequently the WIAA Executive Board and both governing bodies ruled in favor of upholding District 4’s decision.

“King’s Way respectfully submits to and supports the WIAA decision. We would like to wish our fellow Columbia Valley League teams the best of luck in Yakima.”  You can read the full article here

Its seems that all too often the hard work of athletes, teams, and Coaches is lost forever – sure, the students will always know that they “won” and the coaches can always know what “really” happened – but why should it have to be that way?

Most schools think very seriously about tracking student athlete eligibility.  The disconnect always seems to happen when they miss something, not on purpose, but because somewhere along the line… when the rubber met the road and it came down to a question of dollars rather than sense (pun intended)… they didn’t act seriously.