Before I start, I want to make a few things clear.
I realize that Tufts is a Div. III school, and that nearly all emphasis lays in academics, not sports. I realize that at least half of the student body has little or no interest in the school's athletic teams (just go to one of the football team's away games if you don't believe me _ high school badminton clubs have more fans.) I know that the success of any team is secondary to its participants' academic pursuits. I know that no coach will ever be fired by the school for a losing record.
I have read and I agree with the NESCAC's mission statement, that athletics should be a supplement to the educational mission of the member schools. But still, I have to question the NESCAC's judgment in banning captain's practices.
Granted, the NESCAC has never really allowed captain's practices, and this revised ruling came almost two months ago, so I'm a little late with this argument. But better late than never.
No schools allow out-of-season practices with the coaching staff. Not even Div I football programs, where the season never really ends. But they all allow captain's practices. All except the NESCAC, that is.
Bill Gehling, Tufts' Athletic Director, said that he knows of no other collegiate division that is as strict about out of season practice rules as the NESCAC. Even high schools have captain's practices.
So why has the NESCAC all of sudden gotten its panties in a bunch about this? Part of it (an extremely small, miniscule part the size of a hair on a butterfly's back) is that the conference is concerned about the athletes' safety, and their ability to keep up with their academics. The biggest reason though, is that some moron at Colby was playing hockey without a helmet, hurt himself, and now the schools are afraid of getting sued.
So now teams can't practice out of season. They have to wait until the designated start date, leaving them about three or four weeks to practice and learn to work together as a team before the season starts. Meanwhile, every other team in the nation has been practicing for months. Legally.
The NESCAC is easily one of the best Div. III conferences in the country. Sports Illustrated just named Williams the top Div III school in the nation; Middlebury's lacrosse program could probably be a top twenty Div I team. I'm not exaggerating. But when teams can't practice together in the off-season, it makes them worse and puts them at a disadvantage compared to teams in the rest of the country.
But we've already established that winning is secondary for NESCAC teams, so let's forget the last point and move on to a different one: safety. Is it really safer for the athletes now that schools are really banning captain's practices? If teams aren't practicing, then nobody can possibly get hurt, right?
This might be true if teams actually weren't practicing. But the fact of the matter is that this rule hasn't stopped any team from holding practices. I've talked with numerous athletes and coaches, from various sports, all of whom admit that teams are practicing together. The only thing that's different is that now teams have to be sneaky about it. They have to make sure they play where nobody's looking. They have to sneak into facilities, or maybe practice without all the right equipment.
And what happens if somebody gets hurt then? If it's a minor injury, do you think the athlete is going to go tell the trainer, and risk getting the team in trouble? Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt it.
Teams aren't going to stop practicing, no matter what rules you throw at them. Like lacrosse coach Mike Daly told me, he tries to recruit lacrosse junkies who love to play and who want to play. And they're going to play, even if you tell them not to.
Athletic directors and school presidents would tell you that the rule is in the spirit of the NESCAC, that academics come first. You can believe what you want, but as far as I can tell, the conference just doesn't want to get sued. End of story.
Is it in the spirit of the NESCAC to tell athletes they can't practice the sport that they're supposed to put their hearts and souls into? Is it in the spirit of the NESCAC to encourage athletes to try and find ways around the rules?
This rule doesn't make anyone safer, because it doesn't actually stop anything. And to tell you the truth, I doubt if it's intended to stop anything. The NESCAC has to frown at out of season practices, so that when some idiot from Colby doesn't wear a helmet and hurts himself and decides to hold the school responsible, the school won't get in trouble. So they make the athletes suffer _ the ones that they're supposedly trying to help out.
And who is this rule is supposed to be protecting?
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