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Chuck,
What if the trainer arrived to the gamesite late and a kid must sit in the lockerroom for the first quarter to receive taping or treatment? Are people saying that this kid is not a legal team member because he is not on the bench? What if a team took two vans to a game with half of the team in each vehicle and one of them got a flat tire and is running 45 minutes late?
What if something strange were to happen and this game were to be suspended and continued at a later date? In that case a kid who had a hurt ankle may have recovered and be well enough to participate. For this reason a smart coach would always list his entire team in the book, so that he would not be penalized for adding this kid later.
Look at MLB. They must submit a 25 man roster at the start of each playoff series. Sometimes they know a guy can't play in the first two games, but could help them in the last four or five so they put him on.
I have to say that it would be absolutely absurd to interpret the team member definition to mean that a player cannot be listed in the book at the start of the game, but arrive later, say at halftime, and play without penalty.
The intent is not to penalize tardiness or other commitments. The intent is prevent teams from disguising who is going to play for them in that game. In fact, the listing of a late arrival is declaring to the opponent ahead of time that this kid may play. This is the opposite of any deception and is the sporting thing to do. Why would the NFHS want that penalized?
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