Mr. Bennett, that is a very good post. I have decided to comment on the paragraph above, especially the sentence that I highlighted in red from your post. I think that sentence is really at the heart of this unfortunate situation. People are going to be adversely effected no matter what decision is made by the officials in charge.

If that directive from the Bishop had been made for the 2008-2009 season my son and his Aquinas teammates could have been effected. I discussed this possibility with my son a week ago when I first heard of the problem that was developing with the 113 pound class. My son told me that he would have wrestled the girl. I told him the Aquinas coaches would not be allowed to let him wrestle and could not sit in the coaches seat so the referee would not start the match. My son had been wrestling since the first grade. He had placed at state the previous two years. Wrestling was a major part of his life at that point and he really wanted to win a state title his senior year. He would have been devastated to had to give up that opportunity by forfeiting due to the directive from the Bishop.

So what would have been the right answer for my son at that point in his life? I really do not know. I suppose he could have transferred to a public school for his senior year but that would have been a very difficult decision at that point in his life. My son would have probably ultimately stayed at Aquinas a school and community that he loved. The odds are at his weight 215 weight class that he would not have been effected but there was a possibility that he could have been. And if the rule was that once you forfeit that you automatically forfeit for the rest of the regional and would not have qualified for the state tournament that would have been a very difficult and disappointing outcome for him or any other wrestler.

This is just a very unfortunate situation and the bad thing is that due to no fault of their own some wrestler or wrestlers can be adversely effected by it. I really hope the Bishop reconsiders and changes his policy on this in the future.