HFCS To Appeal Disqualification Of Bowling Team From State Tournament

by Bea Peterson
On Friday, February 17, the Times Union reported that the Hoosick Falls Bowling Team had been stripped of its Section II Class C-D Bowling Championship and its place in the March State Tournament because it did not complete the paperwork required when seventh or eighth grade students compete in a varsity sport.
[private]On Wednesday afternoon, February 22, Hoosick Falls Central School Superintendent Ken Facin issued the following statement:
“The Hoosick Falls Central School District self-reported an incomplete application for selective classification, as soon as we became aware of two of our bowling team members, to Nina Van Erk, Executive Director of NYS Athletics and Paul Jenkins, President of Section 2 Athletics. Both agreed to refer the matter to the state education department because it involves a Commissioner’s Regulation. Selective classification permits “students in grades no lower than seventh to compete on any senior high school team provided that pupils are placed at levels of competition appropriate to their physiological maturity, physical fitness and skills in relation to other pupils on those teams in accordance with standards established by the commissioner. (Part 135.4 (c ) (ii) (a) (4) of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education).
“We have not received any official notifications as to the status of our team to date. Therefore, we have filed a petition with the Commissioner of Education (we held a special Board of Education meeting at 7:00 am on 2/21/12 in which a resolution was passed authorizing an appeal to the Commissioner of Education) asking for a stay of any penalties in this matter so that our student athletes may compete at the state level as they have earned this opportunity. We now have to wait for the parties involved to respond to our petition. Their response will determine the fate of our bowling team’s eligibility to compete at the state level.
This matter is not about competitive advantage, unfair or malicious intent but rather a school district that came upon a technical matter and was honest and self-reported the matter as soon as practical (We realized a potential technical error at 4:30 pm on 2/14 and after investigating the matter reported it to the state and sectional level at 7:00 am on 2/15). We are working with our legal counsel to address any obstacles to our student-athletes competing at the state championships in Waverly, New York [on March 3 and 4]. Everyone needs to remember to focus on the student-athletes in this situation.”
Respectfully submitted,
Kenneth A. Facin
School Superintendent
Hoosick Falls Central School District
At the boys basketball game on Wednesday evening Superintendent Facin declined to make any comment on the Times Union article, pointing to a copy of his own release which stated, “We have not received any official notification as to the status of our team to date.” He would make no further comment other than to say the release spoke for itself.
When asked who made this mistake or how was it made, a person in authority commented that the whole school was taking responsibility for the error.
Again from the Times Union article, Section II boys bowling coordinator Bill Neumann is quoted as saying, “The two bowlers were both eighth-graders who were not correctly ‘selectively classified,'” Neumann said, “In order for a seventh- or eighth-grader to play a varsity sport, there are procedures that must be followed. In other sports, they must do a certain number of sit-ups or push-ups, etc., to pass the physical test.
“In bowling, they only have to finish in the top eight of tryouts in three games over three days (nine games). Then they must get a physical and pass a maturity test. On top of these requirements there is paperwork that has to be filled out, and Section II must be notified of any athlete being asked to ‘play up.’ ”
The Times Union article noted that “One of the eighth-graders, Josh McCart, was the Panthers’ second-highest scorer at the section tournament with 1,278 pins, trailing only senior Joe Wolfrum (1,346) on the Hoosick Falls team. The other eighth-grader, Stephen Surdam, rolled the final four games of the six-game tournament, totaling 790.”
Wolfrum will be permitted to compete in the state tournament as one of the top six individual scorers in the section.[/private]