Montgomery County Public Schools: Make Ice Hockey An Official Varsity Sport
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Anonymous
Yes but to get good at ice hockey it costs way MORE than football. ICE is expensive! |
Anonymous
What are the numbers? Football seems more expensive to me. Those nice football fields at BCC, Churchill, etc. sit on some nice, expensive land. They have to get astro grass every 5-10 years that cost a 500K to 1 million per field. I don't know. I am open to it, but your pronouncement doesn't make it more expensive. |
Anonymous
. The petition was only asking for recognition, not for MCPS to take over the program. If MCPS took over the burden of putting forth a team, the school would provide equipment and everyone would have the opportunity to play. I don't think you can say a team represents a group when everyone in the group can't try out for the team because of a financial hurdle. This is a pay to play organization, not a school organization, I have no problem with hockey being offered in schools, but I do have a problem with one group of people putting together a team that is not truly open to the school and then expect to represent that they are associated with the school. |
Anonymous
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MCPS can't offer recognition (awards, varsity letters, yearbook photos, etc.) to programs it doesn't run and administer. Hockey is a great sport, as are many other sports that MCPS doesn't offer (skiing, rugby, etc.).
If MCPS were to "recognize" hockey, MCPS would have to administer and run hockey just like it does all it's other sports. Liability issues of "recognizing" a sport requires this. (FYI---technically hockey isn't even a "club sport" at their schools). This means a litany of changes that would basically make it impossible for hockey to run as a separate league entity. For example, this means background checks on coaches, concussion testing of students, coaches have to be certified in first AID/CPR. Students would only be allowed to play for their home schools, GPA eligibiity rules apply, students would have to pay the ECA fee (and the school would have to monitor it). Coaches could be hired/fired by teh school. This is just a small part of a MUCH larger list. In essence it appears the petition is asking for something MCPS can't grant. |
Anonymous
Stop implementing logic and reason to the discussion. That is how you break the internet. |
Anonymous
OP: here are some thoughts for your project. First, the poster above has some points, but the question in my mind is whether things have to be the way that the poster menions. For example, the poster says "MCPS has to run the league". Is that true? If so, why? How do other states and school districts run sports. For example, I would guess that Minnesota has public high school hockey. How does that work? How do they deal with kids that can't afford equipment? Next, I wonder how do other counties in Md and Va deal with high school hockey. These are better peer groups than a place like Minnesota, where hockey is part of the culture. Do other local programs get varsity letters, recognition, and financial support in some small way that MCPS might consider? Just because MCPS runs things a certain way, doesn't mean that is the best way. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Your project would be valuable if you were able to show different models of how high school sports/activities are run and then show how MCPS may be able to learn from this other approaches. In the end, it is a political decision. I am convinced that if the county wanted to support hockey, it could be done. As you know, USA Hockey has certified coaches. Also, things like GPA monitoring, baseline concussion testing, etc are easy to handle. I still don't see the big deal (as long as there is support for it). My only other thought is that this doesn't have to be a hockey issue. I am sure other sports, like the mentioned rugby, are in the same position. The idea would be how can MCPS support these other activities. Good luck. |
jeremyskaife
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My name is Jeremy Skaife and I created the petition Montgomery County Public Schools: Make Ice Hockey An Official Varsity Sport. I want to thank everyone for your comments and showing interest in this subject. I appreciate all the comments given and encourage you to share this petition with other people. I did not originally post this; I actually just found this today. However I would like to thank whoever did start this. I have commented on some opinions below and I hope it helps to answer your questions. I would also like to invite everyone to join me as I plan to formally present this petition to the Montgomery County Board of Education at their next business meeting on Tuesday, February 11th at 10AM. If you are able to be there in person, it will demonstrate how strongly we feel about this change.
Thank you in advance for planning to attend, and for your continued support for Varsity Hockey. Answers to Concerns: “Having said that this petition is poorly worded. It stresses cost, cost, and more cost. That is the last thing that the members want to hear.” -I hoped to show an emphasis on support and recognition in my petition. Funding is definitely not the main goal at all and I am sorry you felt this was the emphasis written. “Plus insurance would go thru the roof.” -Insurance is currently provided by USA hockey and there would be no reason to change this unless it becomes a full varsity sport with funding. Hockey is also not the most dangerous sport. In fact, research has shown that more students show up in emergency rooms from basketball injuries, than any other high school sport, including ice hockey. http://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=sports-injury-statistics-90-P02787 Although concussions is the main concern, Ice Hockey is second to football related concussions according these statistics: http://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/concussion-rates-high-school-sports?page=0%2C1 “I support it but why are there no girls in the video?” -Girl participation in the league was very low when this video was made however it has grown and you would likely see a girl in a newer video. “What recognition does the school give a football team besides a banquet at the end of the year?” -Football receives game announces and website updates, some gear is provided as well as transportation by bus for Away games. Most importantly however they receive Varsity letters and a reference to their athletic achievements on their transcript. “I like the idea of offering as many sports as possible, but wouldn't this require the building of ice rinks at schools?” -Swimming and Golf are both Official Varsity sports and there are no swimming pools or golf courses at the schools. “If the students are not willing to agree to have minimum GPA and conduct standards, then I don't think the school should be involved.” -Currently all players must have the minimum GPA to play. Players who also miss school on a day of a game or practice are not allowed to play either. “No child should go hungry or struggle to understand English because someone wants to play ice hockey.” -Obviously no one thinks that someone should be given money for hockey over someone who is going hungry. Our main goal is to make it a Varsity Sport that is supported and recognized, not funded. Members of the MSHL and Montgomery Conference have even said they will sign something that they will never ask to be funded. “The point I tried to make with football costs was not whether the money was poorly spent or well spent. Rather, the previous poster implied that hockey costs money so poor kids couldn't play. My point is that all sports costs money and none of them are "free".” -Yes that is correct. No sport is free. However a varsity sport costs at most a participation or “ECA” fee of about twenty-thirty dollars to participate. While the minimum each player for Ice Hockey pays out of pocket is 800 or 900 dollars practicing only once a week. The schools that practice multiple times a week sometimes reach 1200 or more per player. “For example, this means background checks on coaches, concussion testing of students, coaches have to be certified in first AID/CPR… GPA eligibiity rules apply, students would have to pay the ECA fee (and the school would have to monitor it).” -Coaches are already certified by USA Hockey, which includes background checks and certification in AID/CPR. Students who play Hockey already follow the GPA eligibility rules and many players are already concussion tested regularly. Parents would be willing to pay an extra twenty to thirty dollars, which is a minimal amount, compared to the 800-1200 fee they already pay. Again the Board Meeting is Tuesday, February 11th at 10AM. Thank You. |
Anonymous
I'm the OP and my kid plays for MYHA, we know several MCPS students that play. |
Anonymous
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“The point I tried to make with football costs was not whether the money was poorly spent or well spent. Rather, the previous poster implied that hockey costs money so poor kids couldn't play. My point is that all sports costs money and none of them are "free".”
-Yes that is correct. No sport is free. However a varsity sport costs at most a participation or “ECA” fee of about twenty-thirty dollars to participate. While the minimum each player for Ice Hockey pays out of pocket is 800 or 900 dollars practicing only once a week. The schools that practice multiple times a week sometimes reach 1200 or more per player. -=-=- So the school would be picking up the cost of $800 to $900 per player per week? If the team only practices once a week, it seems more like a club than a varsity sport. |
Anonymous
A field that can be used for football can also be used for other sports, during PE, etc. You own the field, you would be renting time at the ice rink. |
Anonymous
We should separate what a sport costs versus who pays for it and how it is paid. I think both football and ice hockey are expensive. MCPS subsidizes/pays for football, parents pay for hockey. Agreed, football fields can and are used for other purposes, although I notice they are empty a lot of the time (i.e., I don't see youth football teams playing on them. This is another topic. I think you can rent out football fields through the county department called CUPF, though). When you 'own' a field, you have to factor in the cost of ownership. A football field at BCC ties up a lot of money because a developer would take that land and build something else. Renting is a different model and may be preferable for ice hockey. I am neutral on whether owning vs renting is better. The point is that both cost money. Owning is not free. One interesting side note. The county owns the Cabin John and Wheaton rinks just like the school board/county own the football fields. The difference is that the county charges parents for ice hockey use, but the school board pays for the football fields. Rockville Rink is private, though. Again, all these fields/rinks need to be paid for someway, so it is matter of who and how to pay for them. |
Anonymous
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Before you go to this meeting make sure you know that varsity sports do not get all the things you think they do. My DC plays sports all 3 seasons. There is nothing on the transcript to indicate this. At least at our school the website updating is done by team parents if they choose to. Any team can make announcements and hockey does more announcements than just about any sport. Track, which is one of the larger sports, does not give varsity letters to any athletes. We had to buy uniforms for 2 sports (although one was a JV sport). One sport had busses for some meets. One sport never had busses-it was all parent carpools.
What you do get is coaching, practice and field space, and MSSPAA sanctioning and state championship management, and basic uniforms in some sports. One more thing to consider -if becomes a county sport the private schools would not be in the league. You could still play them of course, but they would be out of league play and would be in the post season championships if it's going to be a county or state championship. |
Anonymous
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There appears to be some confusion here about this proposal. Lets (again) try to clarify.
In MCPS there are no such things as club sports. Hockey is not a club sport in MCPS. Sports are either varsity sports or not affiliated with a school in any way. If they aren't affiliated (such as hockey) then there should be no school support (varsity letters, announcements, awards, etc.) There is no in-between, which is basically what the petition is asking for. Now here's the thing. Some of this is due to MCPS having to conform to MPSSAA rules. And MPSSAA rules are setup by state law. So to change this "setup" would require a change in state law. That is not something MCPS can do. Hence, MCPS is being asked to do something they can't. They can't recognize the sport or the hard work of the kids without making it a varsity sport. Thus the only way for hockey to get "recongition" would be full varsity status in MCPS. As previously noted there are major budget issues why this won't happen in MCPS. The petitioner states funding is not the main goal, that recognition is, but recognition requires (see above) full varsity status. That means a huge investment in the county paying coaches and paying for ice time (plus other costs associated with a varsity sport). Swimming and golf were mentioned by the petitioner, but the county doesn't pay for access to the pools and golf courses as they use other governmental agencies facilities. This wouldn't be the case for hockey which uses private facilities. Insurance could NOT be provided by USA Hockey as the program would be "recognized" by MCPS. Certification by USA Hockey would not apply to MCPS if they recognized it as a varsity sport (I think CPR and AED certification would though). |