Reply to Montgomery County Public Schools: Make Ice Hockey An Official Varsity Sport

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[quote=jeremyskaife]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. [/quote]

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