As high school sports return to more normal operations, some student-athletes are ineligible to play because of poor grades stemming from virtual learning challenges.
Victor Hensley, the sports editor for Chatham News + Record, said many of the students are being impacted by academic ineligibility due to challenges involved with virtual learning. These include bad internet, poor home-work environments, and lack of focus for eight-hour zoom class days.
Hensley said these difficulties impacted teams’ eligibility to compete if they failed to meet North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s academic standards.
“Some of these sports teams are actually doing much more poorly than they have in the past, because they just don’t have the players to compete,” Hensley said.
Hensley said he recently looked into two Chatham high school football teams – Chatham Central and Jordan Matthews. The Jordan Matthews team only had 27 players eligible on their football roster. This means more than 50 percent of the team’s potential roster was ineligible to play.
High school football season started in the spring this year so grades from the fall semester were used to calculate players’ eligibility.
“By the end I think it was by their final game they only had 17 players that were eligible to play when it comes to injuries and stuff like that too,” Hensley said. “When you’re trying to field and play football games with 17 players. That’s kind of rough.”
Coaches are reaching out to ineligible players who are now back in the classroom. Hensley said coaches hope those players can become eligible for fall sports, which pick up in August.
“A lot of coaches are calling their students daily if they don’t get to see them every day and saying, ‘Hey you’ve got to get your work in, we want to see you on the field and we want to see you succeed both in the classroom and on the field so you have to get this part done to be able to hang out with your friends and compete with your teammates,'” Hensley said. “I think you’re seeing a lot of coaches step up which is great to see and kind of keep their kids on top of it and keep them motivated.”
Virtual learning has not been the only challenge for students returning to the field. This spring sporting events looked different with players required to wear masks. Friday, however, any student-athletes actively competing in outdoor sports will not be required to wear a mask.
The North Carolina High School Athletics Association removed the mask mandate following the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services new guidance on mask usage. The NCHSAA said, student-athletes who want to continue to wear one are allowed to do so. Any student-athletes and coaches not actively participating or unable to social distance should still wear masks.
