Virginian-Pilot


DATE: Thursday, November 13, 1997           TAG: 9711130475

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KIA MORGAN ALLEN and ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITERS 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:  102 lines




CHURCHLAND FEELS BRUNT OF GPA RULES LOW GRADES WILL KEEP SIX FOOTBALL PLAYERS OUT OF A PLAYOFF GAME.

Academics rule.

It's a tough lesson for six Churchland High School football players who failed to meet a 2.0 grade requirement and were declared ineligible to play Friday in the school's first playoff appearance in 21 years, but it's one they'll have to live with.

``We will not change,'' school Superintendent Richard D. Trumble said. ``I'm sorry for the six young men, but it's not like they didn't know it was coming.

``They have to be a student first. All the time. Making the playoffs means nothing.''

The six students won't be on the field with their teammates Friday for an Eastern Region playoff game against Booker T. Washington at Norview.

``It's mostly my fault,'' said one ineligible player, who asked not to be identified. ``I didn't try hard enough.''

Portsmouth implemented the minimum 2.0 grade point average - the equivalent of a C - in extracurricular activities last year. Suffolk also has the 2.0 GPA rule, and Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake are moving toward that standard.

But Portsmouth's requirement is the most stringent in South Hampton Roads because it is applied to each of four nine-week grading periods.

That's how the six football players, including three starters, lost their eligibility the week the playoffs are to begin.

Suffolk applies its GPA on a semester basis, which means students can't become ineligible - or eligible - until late January, or at the start of the school year.

Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake also are on the semester system.

Portsmouth's policy ``is very, very tough,'' said Michael J. Debranski, principal of Bayside High School and chairman of the Beach District Principals Association. ``You have to really pay attention and stay on top of things daily as far as your athletes are concerned.

``When it hits like this, that is harsh reality.''

By applying the 2.0 standard to a nine-week grading period, Portsmouth's policy can affect teams in all three sports seasons: fall, winter and spring. Under the semester system, students have to achieve a 2.0 only twice, in January and June.

Students who are ineligible in June, however, could become eligible through summer school.

Churchland's football team wasn't the only one in Portsmouth to take a hit this week.

The school's wrestling team lost one starter; the girls basketball team could lose one starter, pending the completion of makeup work Friday, and the boys basketball team experienced its lowest turnout ever: 11 players.

``I have one kid who is 6-foot-3 that I've talked to for two years trying to get him eligible,'' boys basketball coach Mac Carroll said. ``He keeps barely missing it. It's unbelievable to me that a Group AAA school of 1,600 students can have only 11 or 12 players.''

At Woodrow Wilson High, athletic director Jack Kennedy said he hadn't finished his winter qualification list, but he said some of the school's fall sports teams would have lost athletes if they were still playing this week.

The Virginian-Pilot was unable to contact an athletic official at Norcom - the other Portsmouth high school.

Suffolk is in its seventh year of enforcing a 2.0 rule, and this fall seven student-athletes from Lakeland and Nansemond River high schools were ineligible, Assistant Superintendent Janice B. Holland said.

Suffolk students must achieve a 2.0 GPA in the semester before their participation. Twice in their eight semesters of high school eligibility, students may go on probation for six weeks if their averages are between 1.65 and 1.99. If the averages don't come up, students are barred from their activities for the rest of the semester.

If the GPAs are too low after a second semester, students may attend summer school to improve their averages.

Neither Churchland Principal Raymond Hale nor football coach Ken Taylor said they had received negative feedback on the football players' loss of eligibility.

``We have tutoring classes, and the coaches monitor grades as best they can,'' Hale said. ``I attend as many of our athletic events as I can, and (two weeks ago) after we beat Wilson, Coach Taylor gathered the team on the field and told them the biggest thing they would face the next week wasn't Granby, but exams. He gave them Monday off to study.''

Many of Churchland's athletes who achieve a 2.0 do so with plenty of room to spare. The combined GPA of the girls basketball team is above 3.4, coach Duke Conrad said, and the combined GPA of the boys basketball team is 3.2, Carroll said.

``It's a terrible thing that (the football players) are ineligible,'' said Jennifer Bright, a senior co-captain on the girls basketball team. ``But it's even more terrible that they can't keep up their grades in order to play something they love.

``Everybody is excited about the football game, and losing those players will hurt the team. But grades come before sports.''

Bright's comments echoed those of Portsmouth School Board member James E. Bridgeford.

``Academics first,'' he said. ``They (the athletes) had enough time to prepare. Now it's here. This is real life.''

Added Trumble, ``Everybody's athletic career comes to an end sometime. And when the games are over, you need to be prepared for the rest of your life.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

IAN MARTIN/The Virginian-Pilot

Churchland High School's principal said that coach Ken Taylor, at

practice Wednesday, has stressed the importance of academics.



[home] [ETDs] [Image Base] [journals] [VA News] [VTDL] [Online Course Materials] [Publications]

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu
by CNB