Our reaction upon hearing that Gilroy High School students will
be required to sign a code of conduct before participating in any
school sports? It’s about time.
Our reaction upon hearing that Gilroy High School students will be required to sign a code of conduct before participating in any school sports? It’s about time.
After last year’s shenanigans involving four baseball players who were initially kicked off the team for unacceptable behavior and later reinstated, we’re surprised it took GHS and the Gilroy Unified School District this long to come up with a uniform code of conduct that applies to all athletes.
But we’re certainly glad they did.
Until this point, the codes of conduct for GHS athletes varied from coach to coach and sport to sport, leading to confusion and conflicting standards. It only makes sense that the same academic and behavioral rules that apply to a student playing, say, tennis, would also apply to a student playing football.
“We want to have a uniform policy that cuts across all the sports that can be agreed upon by all the coaching staff,” GHS Athletic Director Jack Daley said. “We want to make sure it’s clear, get it in writing, and make sure that it’s communicable to parents and that it’s communicable to athletes.”
The upcoming code of conduct – a final version is due in a few weeks – will focus not only on academics and sportsmanship, but also on citizenship, GHS officials say.
“We want our athletes to be role models and to hold them to a high standard of behavior,” Daley said.
He’s exactly right. Because the truth is that when athletes are accorded preferential treatment at a young age, the foundation for future trouble is being laid.
Athletes must understand that their skill is a gift, not a ticket to ride free.
The new policy at least means limiting the number of tardies and unexcused absences a student athlete can accrue and still participate in extracurricular activities.
Besides having uniform and understandable rules, it’s also vitally important that GUSD support its coaches when they enforce rules – and that’s a lot easier to do when the rules are clearly spelled out and everyone’s following the same set of guidelines.
Hopefully, the new code of conduct will prevent a repeat of last March’s frustrating incident when varsity baseball coach Clint Wheeler suspended four baseball players – only to see that decision overturned.
Undermining a coach’s authority in that way can yield devastating results in the classroom and on the playing field. And reinstating students who were found with marijuana paraphernalia in a locked dugout and storage area after hours sends a completely wrong message about acceptable behavior.
We’re hopeful that the new code of conduct will prevent a similar debacle and set clear expectations for all GHS athletes.
