[Goose]

As others have said, it is pretty much left up to the state associations as to what they will allow, and one should follow those guidelines.

Now, I was under the assumption that athletics in general was all about participation. The vast majority of these kids will never see the light of day playing in college. The key here to me is participation.

Given that, I would do everything in my power to allow them to play/participate even if I weren't sure of the state rule. I would however get the coaches and AD(s) involved and possibly have something in writing to allow this.

For the life of me, I cannot see how a head covering is dangerous though. I do know of one muslim girl around here that is required to cover her legs if/when she plays. So, part of the uniform? What will it hurt? I know, I know, some say if we allow that, this, where will it end, and all I can say is that, I don't know. I do know that I now have to check for correct underwear color as well as lenght. I have to check hair braids, bobbypins, and fingernail length. Next I'm sure will be tatoos and covering those that are offensive in nature. So, where will it all end is anyones guess.

A few years ago, I was asked to work a Jewish tournament that happened to carry the title of the Jewish Olympics for youth. Can't remember the exact name, but it was a huge undertaking involving all types of Jews whether they be Orthodox, Reformed, etc. The boys all wore yarmulkes, and we had no problems whatsoever. Don't ask me how they kept them on their heads, but I know it wasn't by hair pins, but they were absolutely no problem. And they all wore shorts too. The biggest problem I had was actually getting into the gym. Secruity was so tight that they had to get the organizer to allow us entry since we were not given security I.D.s.

As to not playing a game with torn or missing foam around the backboards, good luck selling that one! I guess some have not worked in many inner city High schools. Here in Western Mass, almost all the schools are missing that foam around the boards. Yes, you might call the game and not play, but I would venture a guess that that would be the last High School game you would ever work.

We have always been told that you are at the site and do whatever it takes to play, unless there is a really serious breach of safety. Also, here in the Northeast, it is not uncommon to have leaky roofs seeing that we get lots of snow and with the freeze thaw cycles, it causes many gym roofs to leak. To my knowledge, I have never heard of a game around here being cancelled because of a leaky roof, but I can tell you that I have spend a lot of time cleaning up many wetspots!

Yes, yes, I know we should do everything in our power to make sure the facilities are safe, but at the same time, some go overboard too. The object here is to try and play the game. I also umpire softball and I can tell you that we have played on plenty of fields that were questionable, all with the coaches preapproval and warnings noted.

Hey, just my 2 cents

goose