THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 25, 1996 TAG: 9604240156
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 21 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Ashley Alston doesn't want to choose whether to play field hockey or tennis at Nansemond River, but unless her father can change enough minds within the Virginia High School League - or beat the VHSL in court - she's going to have to.
Alston, a freshman, played both sports for the Warriors this year. But when Nansemond River moves from the Group AA Bay Rivers District to the Group AAA Southeastern for the 1996-97 school year, Alston will be one of approximately 20 Warriors female athletes who'll be forced to give up one or in some cases two of the sports they've played on the high school level.
``I've got a problem with that, and I think this is something the VHSL needs to address,'' said Kevin Alston, Nicole's father and an assistant principal at Nansemond River.
Boys sports, regardless of classification, are conducted at the same time within the VHSL. But girls sports within the VHSL aren't as neatly aligned.
Basketball is a winter sport in Group AAA, a fall sport in Group AA and A. Volleyball, played in the fall among the larger schools, is a winter activity in the smaller classifications. And tennis, played in the fall in Group AAA, is a spring sport in Group AA and A.
So, for example, if Nansemond River moved to Group AAA at the beginning of the 1995 school year, Kari Harrell would have had to decide whether to attempt to set the school's all-time scoring record in field hockey - which she did - or try to become one of the best volleyball players in the Bay Rivers District - something she also did.
``The way it's done now is unfair to girls,'' Kevin Alston said. ``It's a rights violation and a Title IV violation.''
Alston's position is supported by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Women's Law Center. The NWLC's Debbie Brake goes so far as to point out that a girl who, because of re-classification, was denied an opportunity to continue participating in a sport could claim she was prevented from pursuing a scholarship in that sport and sue the VHSL for the cost of four years of college.
Alston said alignment of all of the sports can be accomplished by simply moving Group AA and A basketball to the winter, Group AA-A volleyball to the fall and Group AAA tennis to the spring. But the VHSL has rejected that idea, citing surveys which indicate a vast majority of Group A and AA schools don't want to change.
``More than three-fourths of the (Group A-AA) schools say they want to keep playing basketball in the fall,'' VHSL assistant director Larry Johnson said.
The schools cite better facility availability, better officiating and more publicity among the reasons for preferring to play in the fall. But Alston counters by saying that girls who shoot hoops in the fall put themselves at a disadvantage in landing college scholarships. The first day a college coach could attend a high school game last year was Oct. 8, a date past the halfway point of the Group AA season.
``(Alston) has some legitimate concerns, but I'm not sure what the answer is,'' Johnson said. ``When your schools don't want to change, what are you going to do?''
Force them to change, replies Alston, who has set up another meeting with the VHSL executive board May 8. And if the VHSL sticks to its present position?
``I'd have to take them to court,'' he said. ``But I'd like to clear this up without it having to go that far. I don't think they understand the ramifications if it goes to legal action.
``So I guess you could say my meeting in Charlottesville on May 8 is the calm before the storm.''
Johnson said the VHSL ``pretty much expects'' the matter to wind up in court. He added that a school in West Virginia won a challenge similar to the one being pondered by Alston, and now all that state's girls basketball teams play in the winter.
``But I know other (state courts) have said it's OK to have some play in the fall and some play in the winter,'' Johnson said. ``I guess it depends on which court you go to.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by HUY NGUYEN
Ashley Alston wants to keep playing tennis and field hockey.
by CNB