Participating in high school sports is about opportunity.
It’s about having an opportunity to compete, to grow as a person, to learn life skills.
On Thursday, Maine’s athletic directors extended these opportunities when they overwhelmingly voted, 44-9, to allow more teams into the high school playoffs.
While football will remain the same, sports such as baseball, basketball, soccer and field hockey ”“ those whose postseasons are determined by heal points ”“ will have 67 percent of their class teams now make the playoffs. That is up from 50 percent, which has been the recent norm.
For example, Western Maine Class A girls basketball has 17 teams. For the past two years, only nine teams made the playoffs. Now, 11 will have a chance to compete for a regional and possibly state crown.
That might not seem like a huge increase of teams, but think about this: Imagine a team that is highly skilled, starts the season at 6-0, then loses its best player to an injury for the next seven games. This team goes 2-5 during that stretch before the player can come back and play. Because of this circumstance, the team finishes in 10th place, just missing the playoffs by one spot under the previous format.
Under the new system, however, this team now makes the playoffs at No. 10 with its full roster intact. It gives those players at least an opportunity to compete for a title. This is sports, so winning a title is never a given, but in this case, at least the chance is given.
Maine’s high school seasons are short compared with those of most other states. The athletic directors who voted to allow more teams to compete in the postseason should be commended for their decision.
It’s true that in 2008 the decision to cut the number of teams allowed into the playoffs was motivated by financial concerns. It is also true that a student’s exposure to life skills is invaluable. Thursday’s vote validates this notion and shows that the athletic directors have the student athletes’ best interests in mind. In the end, the 2008 decision didn’t save a lot of money, but it did prevent some student athletes from experiencing the playoffs, something that could become a cherished memory.
This decision will also save money for some school districts in northern Maine in the long run.
Before Thursday, many schools located north of Bangor would schedule games with teams worth high-valued heal points in order to earn as many points as possible to allow them to earn a valuable and limited playoff spot.
This could have meant that Presque Isle, for example, would have traveled to Camden to play a game because Camden is usually worth a lot of heal points in certain sports. That is a costly trip for that school, especially at current gas prices.
Now, because of Thursday’s vote, Presque Isle doesn’t need to spend extra money by traveling to the heart of Waldo County to earn heal points. It can stay closer to home, knowing that playing teams in its area could earn it enough points to still get into the playoffs.
Thursday’s vote was a win-win for Maine, its schools’ coffers and its student athletes.
Ӣ Ӣ Ӣ
Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via e-mail at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
