Plenty of blame to share in soccer scheduling snafu
Playoffs are win or go home.
So why have hundreds and possibly thousands of athletes ready for postseason soccer matches Thursday, only to tell them the morning of or as little as a few hours before there are no games?
“The last 36 hours were stressful,” Travis coach Luke Chauvin said after his Tigers beat Langham Creek in a game rescheduled to Friday. “I thought to myself, ‘This could ruin somebody’s senior year.’ ”
That’s where coaches, district administrators and statewide governing officials found themselves.
“I think we did a disservice to a lot of kids (Thursday) because there wasn’t effective communication throughout the state in a lot of channels,” said Humble ISD athletic director Troy Kite, who had to have two of his schools (Atascocita and Kingwood) reschedule games. “And I’m part of that.” All the adults are. Houston’s confusion started when Ali Zamanian checked his email early Thursday. The vice president of scheduling for the Houston Southwest Soccer Officials Association was informed playoff games couldn’t be held Thursday due to statewide STAAR testing.
The State Board of Education prohibits participating schools from any area, regional or state competition Monday through Thursday the week of testing. STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) are state-mandated exams accessing a student’s knowledge in a particular grade level. English I and II were this week, with algebra I, biology and U.S. history administered the first week of May.
Confusing regulations
Regular-season games are allowed during testing (baseball and softball teams played this week). At the same time, the University Interscholastic League, which governs athletics for Texas public schools, listed on its calendar and website Thursday as a possible date for soccer playoff games. See the confusion? Thursday was an optional date for the soccer games because schools can request a waiver to change testing dates, UIL media coordinator Kate Hector wrote in an email.
Schools that didn’t test could play Thursday. Most do.
Having Thursday as an option meant coaches were going to take it (the area had 14 games originally scheduled). Playing then meant an extra day of rest before turning around next week and facing three games over six days to clinch a state berth.
Buses were requested. Food was ordered. Time off from school and work was scheduled.
The problem was word of the conflict didn’t arise for many until Thursday. That falls on the UIL not recognizing the mistake when schools entered their games into MaxPreps, a website that partners with the association to manage its playoff brackets. It will and should take the brunt of the blame.
But it isn’t alone. It falls on administrators and coaches, a number of whom teach subjects involved in the testing. Baseball and softball games are pushed to Friday and Saturday during May testing due to not being able to play Thursday. Maybe it was trusting the UIL’s calendar, but a question could have been asked as to why this was different when it wasn’t.
It also falls on reporters, who not only report the news but investigate and ask questions. We didn’t until it was too late.
Coaches found out once Zamanian sent an email saying the UIL was canceling Thursday games. They relayed info to administrators. The UIL was bombarded with questions, concerns and choice words.
“A change like this is never OK,” said Zamanian, who oversees three area assignors for officials for the Houston area.
Fans lose as well
A few officials will work two games, but others won’t at all due to jobs or commitments. The same goes with some athletes who will miss a playoff game. Not all, but even one in this case is too many.
“We lost half of our fans,” Travis senior Cody Briggs said. “They keep our energy up and we lost that.”
Said Kite: “At the end of the day, you have kids mentally prepared to have a playoff game (Thursday) and at noon, we’re coming back. That’s no ideal situation mentally for kids when I think if adults had communicated more effectively, then we could have avoided this.”