What are the volleyball criteria?
Editor,
I have heard complaints from numerous parents as to the volleyball sports program at the Polson High School. It is time parents stand up and express their views and let the public know what is going on in our community.
I have two daughters in high school. The first one has attended volleyball camps, taught volleyball to Upward Bound students, and plays open volleyball with former college players at the gym each week. She is a consistent and good player, as stated by several adults she plays volleyball with.
Last year in her junior year she was told by the coach that she had improved immensely and her hustle for the team was up two times more than before, but that she did not have the team attitude "she" wanted in her team.
It was commented by several parents and players that the attitude the coach was looking for was Christian/Religious. I have to agree to this as the very first parent meeting for volleyball I attended last year the coach said that she expected her team to put God first. I was taken aback at the time thinking like most of us that religion and school sponsored sports do not fit together, and that since prayer in school was not allowed, why is a coach dictating what the team had to put God first and foremost.
I have since found out that several mediocre players are also members of the said coach's church and were never cut. My daughter did not go out for her senior year as she could not see spending $30 for a physical and $45 for participation and sports card only to be cut over her religious preference.
My younger daughter did go out for her freshman year this year after playing all through middle school. We did put out the $75 that it took to get in and try out. She and three other freshman girls were cut the second day of practice. Two half-days of practice do not warrant a cut when most of that time was spent exercising and such. When I attended other school games I have noticed quite large amounts of girls on the opposing team's bench. Do they not cut?
Do four freshman girls make that much of an overage that we cannot accommodate them as part of the team? I also know of several senior girls who were cut and I had watched them play for the past three years. All of them were good players. The school my older kids went to in Idaho had a policy if you had played all three years on a sports team you were not cut in your senior year.
That is degrading and insulting since these players were good enough to play freshman, sophomore and junior years. Why would they be cut in their senior year? Did they not have the "proper attitude?"
It seems that parents and students both air their complaints to friends and family but do not have the gumption to come forward and stand up for what is right. Religious beliefs and school do not belong together. Parents should not be required to put out so much money only to have their children cut in two days of practice.
Please e-mail me if you have had issues with the volleyball program at Polson High and the current head coach at
Lora Poirier
Polson