LETTERS: DON'T SEPARATE SPORTS

To the editor:

Separate state championships for public and private schools: What are we thinking? What are we trying to do? What, really, is our intent and purpose as coaches and educators of young student athletes? These are a few of the many questions that should concern us as coaches, teachers and even parents when this issue is passed in front of us to vote on.

If anyone has a legitimate complaint or gripe about this issue, I should have. I coach track and cross-country at Thomas W. Kelly High School in Benton, a Class 2A school on the sports scene. Six of the 12 high schools we compete against in our cross-country district are private schools. In boys competition, we have been lucky enough to win two straight district titles against very good competition from the St. Louis area. Schools like Lutheran North, Principia, John Burroughs, Westminster Christian Academy as well as Cape Girardeau's Notre Dame are among those 12 competitors. Wouldn't it make it easier for my team to win if those schools weren't involved?

Our girls team would have won its district in cross-country if it would not have been for three private schools (John Burroughs, Principia and Lutheran North).

But should I, by my vote, force these schools to compete separately simply because I or my team can't win the big meet?

Our boys team won the Class 1A-2A state cross-country championship this past season, and I am a firm believer that the competition presented by the private schools in our area and in our district helped strengthen and prepare us to compete on the higher level necessary to win the state title.

We should teach our young athletes competition is healthy. Step up to the line and meet all challenges, no matter what school, no matter where the athlete is from. And then -- and only then -- can you consider yourselves a true state champion.

When our cross-country team won the state title, we left the meet knowing that we were the best in the state, all schools included, both public and private. Could my kids have truthfully stated this if public and private schools were separated? Are we not going to water down the meaning of a state title by separating schools into public and private championships? And wouldn't there still be a waging controversy over who really was the true state champion?

Are we, as coaches, administrators, teachers and parents, overlooking the true purpose of high school athletics? Isn't our job to teach our athletes the will to win, mental discipline, mental toughness in the face of adversity and, above all, the ability to step up and meet all challenges? If you fail, don't look for excuses, but strive to make yourself better through continued dedication, hard work and mental preparation.

Removing a part of our athletic competition through the separation of public and private schools will only make it a lot easier for our athletes to achieve their goals. Won't this only lessen the honor and integrity of being a state champion?

Let's not separate the young athletes in our state based on choice of school, but allow all to compete for that true state title.

BILL DAVIS, Track/Cross-country Coach

Thomas W. Kelly High School

Benton