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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
Details of
classification delicate
CLASSIFICATION is coming, finally, officially, to Hawaii high school football next season, and everyone will say that this is a great idea.It is. It most certainly is -- but it needs to be done right. That's the biggest thing. The details. Where you cut the cards. Who is up with the big schools, and who goes small. That's what is going to make this work.
I was a little taken aback to see that now is when they'll start working on the details, that everybody voted without knowing exactly what they were voting about.
OK, fine. As the "ayes" did, I have full confidence in the Hawaii High School Athletic Association football committee to now set the rules. But if it's still a blank slate, if the details aren't done, if there is still lots to talk about, then let me offer a few suggestions. The Sidelines Classification Plan:
>> If you were in the original ILH, the old Interscholastic League of Honolulu, you're out. You're big. Forget it. Too much history, tradition, enrollment, everything. You can't cry poor, can't call yourself small. If you were a part of one of those wonderful, grand, old rivalries, you're big-time forever.
Yes, times have changed. And you can say a lot of the best student-athletes "somehow" end up going to private schools. You have a point. Private schools have an inherent advantage in any system in which they're allowed. But once you accept private schools as a fact of life -- and the HHSAA has, despite occasional subtle reminders of the old OIA-ILH schism -- then those advantages are, unfortunately, part of the equation.
I think there is merit to a plan that came out of Kauai, proposing separate state championships for public and private schools. But that's not going to happen. And if it isn't, the rest is mostly moot.
>> If you have more than 1,000 students in your school, you're out. (And if you are an all-boys institution, your numbers are doubled for the sake of this argument, to reflect the fact that coed schools, with girls, only have about half of their total enrollment to pick from.)
If you have 1,000 students, there must be 22 decent football players in the bunch. Find them. Coach them.
Yes, that can be hard. It's supposed to be hard. That, to quote a certain Tom Hanks character, is what makes it great. If it were easy, everyone would do it.
>> If you have suited up 44 or more players for varsity games in two of the past three seasons you're a big school.
This is the big one. Nonnegotiable. The truest test. Maybe you could be more flexible about a school that missed on the first two criteria, but had only 22 players out. Maybe.
The important thing to remember about classification is that it shouldn't be about making high school football easier. It should be about making it great.
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Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com