Aurora – The Colorado High School Activities Association’s board of control continued to wrangle with the issue of sportsmanship at its second and final meeting of the school year.
But at a quick and low-key gathering of the governing body of athletics on Thursday at the Radisson Hotel Southeast, the 64-member board had no problem giving the green light to football camps in the summer and sanctioned bowling as soon as 2010.
As for the sticky wicket of good sportsmanship: Everybody is for it, but not everyone is on the same page on how to go about enforcing it. Needing two-thirds of the vote to pass, the board shot down the amendment by a count of 32-31.
“I don’t believe that was a reflection of the schools’ desire to decrease sportsmanship, but I think they just want to approach it in a different way,” CHSAA commissioner Bill Reader said.
The amendment would have put an offending school on notice after a written complaint by another member school, not an individual, with possible restrictions to the program after four formal complaints from different schools within a three-year period.
Poor behavior by athletes, coaches, fans or students could warrant a complaint.
“Every school has had and/or will have a sportsmanship issue of some sort,” Reader said. “To us, the most important thing is how schools address the issue.”
The docket also included a proposal to allow high schools to hold summer football camps. During the January meeting, the board voted down a pitch for spring football practices, but summer camps did not face much opposition.
Parents can direct letters of appreciation to the board for saving a hit to the pocketbook. Reader said that although some families might be able to write a check for expensive summer camps held at colleges and elsewhere around the country, it’s not that easy for everyone.
“The majority of our parents can’t quite come up with that kind of money at the drop of a hat,” Reader said. “This allows some kind of football activity during the offseason, under supervision of the school, with school equipment, with little or no cost to the kids.”
The proposal was strengthened by wording that excluded any athletes from participating in a camp unless they are enrolled in that particular school, ending the possibility that camps would be used as informal tryouts.
In other votes:
