By Todd Barley
For the better part of my adult life I have made a living broadcasting athletics events at every level of competition and all over the country. What I witnessed at CD East last night in a girls basketball playoff game is the single biggest assault on competition in my many years of covering sports.
As you continue to read this, keep in mind this is not an attack up on a student athlete but the system and adult “leaders” who allow these situations to occur.
The Neumann-Goretti girls basketball team is a very talented team with tremendous players. However, how many of those players actually reside within the normal geographic boundaries for a school district?
One player actually played her first game with the Saints last night after enrolling at the school in recent weeks. What is most troubling is the fact she was already playing for Hampton Phoebus High School in Virginia and is the reining Player of the Year for that area according to a local newspaper account.
She left Phoebus with four games remaining to enroll at Neumann-Goretti. According to her mother who is quoted in the same article the school recently accepted her for admission. Mom didn’t wait, sending daughter to Philadelphia for academics. She is also quoted as saying the move was for academics.
The admission timing and academic quotes just don’s pass muster with me for several reasons.