Originally posted by Gary Ulmer:
Richard,
Time Stands Still probably knows exactly what he is talking about. I too have had a St. Thomas Aquinas parent say nearly the same thing to me.
The rule states those that are directly or indirectly associated with the school. I don't know whether that gets too fuzzy for the activity association to act when parents acting independently are involved, but there are certainly are some ethical problems.
As a former coach I do not know how many of my best wrestlers were actually contacted, but I can name one and that was confirmed by his parents. He was not new to my program either, he was going to be a junior.
Whether these are provable offenses or just provable ethical problems, I am not sure. But they are an area of concern.
Gary Ulmer
Coach Ulmer:
What Time Stands Still stated was "I was told by a St. Thomas Aquinas wrestling parent that he does contact good wrestlers from public school programs about attending St. Thomas Aquinas."
If one parent is contacting multiple families or wrestlers from public schools, this is an easily provable incident, and quite likely an activity the KSHSAA would be interested in to, at the very least, inform St. Thomas Aquinas officials this behavior is unacceptable.
Further, Time states "The public school wrestling coaches in the Johnson county area will almost all tell you that most of their good wrestlers have been contacted by a representative of St. Thomas Aquinas".
I do not believe Time is in a position to speak for all public high school coaches in Johnson County. Time states the contact was made by a "representative of St. Thomas Aquinas", and again this type of activity, if true, is easily confirmed. If a complaint were lodged regarding a representative from St. Thomas Aquinas directly contacting athletes from other schools, KSHSAA absolutely would investigate, and based on the findings, would take action.
I can assure you this type of activity is prevalent at public schools as well and is not relegated to athletics alone. Public school parents and teachers also compete and encourage students who may be attending another district high schools feeder school to attend their high school for athletic and academic purposes. High Schools take great pride, and do not hesitate to advertise, the number of National Merit Scholars at their school.
Lastly, at this years Kapaun Tournament, a team from out of county participated and I recognized two of the athletes from the Catholic Parish I attend. I did ask the parents of these two athletes why the kids were not attending Kapaun. I mentioned nothing regarding athletics, however I believe it was my responsibility to advocate for Catholic education to Catholic parents whose children do not attend Catholic schools.
