OTish: MHSAA Rules Senior Ineligible for Too Many Classes
Summary: the MHSAA has ruled Yaseen ineligible for his senior year because he took 9th grade level classes as a home-schooled 8th grader. The young man has only played three years of HS football. MHSAA trying to outdo the NCAA here... Ugh.
August 12th, 2019 at 4:49 PM ^
Sounds jacked up to me.
August 12th, 2019 at 11:36 PM ^
The MHSAA is a wildly corrupt organization and a money grab. This is just a story that made headlines, they have been screwing kids left and right for years.
Anyway, drink bourbon
August 12th, 2019 at 4:50 PM ^
Maybe it's not as simple as it seems. His parents claim it was a clerical error when they signed him up for school, after being home schooled. Sounds simple, but maybe this rule exist so kids don't get held back for competitive advantage. Maybe there is a loop hole that some people would take advantage when it comes to home schooled kids. His parents are also claiming he broke his arm and wouldn't have been able to play his freshman year.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:38 PM ^
Stop it with your perfectly rational explanations, this is the internet and we must be outraged.
August 12th, 2019 at 7:31 PM ^
Well...the internet is a cesspool in general.
August 13th, 2019 at 9:40 AM ^
Yeah, I understand your point. And I certainly don't know the facts. But the kid is 17. If he had been held back for competitive reasons, he would likely be at least 18 by now. A 17 year-old senior hasn't been held back too much.
August 13th, 2019 at 9:56 AM ^
However, he is 17 years of age. Full Stop. The MHSAA barely cares about academics which is where the young man is "advanced". What should be the most important rule is that of the age. His parents didn't hold him back...
August 12th, 2019 at 5:03 PM ^
This is my take as well. And why this wouldn't be the conclusion on appeal is beyond me.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:37 PM ^
Agreed on all counts.
Also my child is taking a foreign language through a university...wonder what they will say in looking at her eligibility. Educators should be celebrating those trying to better themselves rather than coming down on a child who did not conform.
Also Catholic schools in MI do straight up recruit. Scholarships and all.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:03 PM ^
Even if the decision is justifiable, the reason is totally ridiculous. almost half of the kids in my school district get high school credits in 8th grade.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:06 PM ^
Something weird happened when he was in the eighth grade. I wonder if he was redshirted by his parents and repeated the eighth grade? It just seems odd because he couldn’t play on a high school team if he’s not in high school regardless of the classes he took.
Having kids repeat a year is very popular in Texas. I think this might be it and it’s the same in a Texas. If you pass eighth grade then you cannot repeat for athletic purposes and if you do then a year of eligibility is taken away.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:12 PM ^
I'm not sure where this speculation is coming from, but it is clearly contradicted by the article. Nothing weird happened in eighth grade. He certainly didn't repeat a grade. The kid is only 17.
He has only played for three years. The MHSAA is denying him his 4th year of eligibility because they claim that he exhausted his first year when he was being home-schooled as an 8th grader because he was taking 9th grade classes.
To be clear, he was not participating in any sports while being home-schooled. The MHSAA's decision seems to be based on the fact that he was taking advanced classes.
He is basically being punished for being ahead of the curve academically.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:40 PM ^
I’m not explaining it correctly. I’m not speculating, I’m telling you how the rule is in a Texas to prevent parents and coaches from redshirting a kid in the eighth grade for athletic reasons.
A kid passes the eighth grade the first time. Someone decides he’s young enough and could benefit from an extra years to mature and develop before high school Parents decide to homeschool the kid because it’s the only option because the kid already successfully completed the eighth grade. The kid is now taking ninth grade level classes as a middle school student who already completed middle school. As a result he loses a year of eligibility because he repeated the eighth grade for the heck of it.
I don’t know if that makes sense but that’s one of the rules in Texas to prevent redshirting in the eighth grade.
So my theory is he finished eight grade, parents wanted junior to keep advancing academically so he took ninth grade classes, and because he already completed the eighth grade the high school classes counted as if he was already in high school even though he was being homeschooled as an eighth grader.
And it doesn’t matter that he didn’t play sports when homeschooled because he was technically a ninth grade student who just sat out his freshman year. This would be like saying I didn’t play football as a freshman so I get an extra year after my senior year.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:53 PM ^
Ok, I think I understand you better. But I also think the article seems to be in tension with this theory. In the story, his parents mention that he began taking classes ahead of his grade level as a 3rd grader. He graduated 2nd grade and then began the 4th grade home-schooling curriculum.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:07 PM ^
Your theory runs afoul of the fact that Yaseen is only seventeen years old, and so could only have competed 11 years of schooling since kindergarten.
What actually seems to have happened is that the "virtual home school" he attended when he was thirteen considered him a high school freshman. That's why Western admitted him as a sophomore. MHSAA seems to have gotten this one right; he was eligible to play high school football as a thirteen-year-old, it's just that he couldn't because his "school" didn't offer football. After playing his sophomore, junior, and senior years at Western, he has exhausted his eligibility. That he didn't graduate in his (accelerated) senior year is moot.
August 13th, 2019 at 9:45 AM ^
This is sound reasoning, and it makes sense to me. But the rules, as I understand them, are in place to stop kids from either playing more than four years of HS sports or from being held back a grade so they can use their HS eligibility when older. Neither of those things happened in this case.
The technicality may be correct, but what harm is this decision preventing?
August 13th, 2019 at 10:33 AM ^
The other issue is that the article states the kid entered as a freshman, was reclassified to sophomore status a few weeks later, and then reclassified again to freshman status.
There were clearly some issues clearing up his status, so it's no surprise that there is confusion.
Regardless, I agree with the others that they seem to be following the letter of the "law" at the expense of the benefit to the STUDENT-athlete.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:57 PM ^
Many, many 8th graders take 9th grade/high school classes (Spanish 1, Algebra 1, Geometry). That's not the issue. It looks like his parents reported his '8th' grade year as a 9th grade year, which started the clock on his eligibility. Then when he started high school, he was reported as a sophomore.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:07 PM ^
MHSAA is holding football development in this state hostage by having stone age rules. No games during the regular season can be televised. What the hell kind of rule is that?
August 12th, 2019 at 5:15 PM ^
That is one hell of a non sequitur.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:42 PM ^
Threadjacking alert!
August 12th, 2019 at 9:48 PM ^
High school football should never be on TV, except for the championships, I don't care how many recruiting junkies want to get their kicks in August.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:08 PM ^
Fundamentally, I think the problem is a lack of perspective. These rules and this organization were put in place to protect people. Now they are doing real damage to a 17- year-old student athlete, precisely the person the organization is charged with protecting.
I hope the MHSAA gets torched for this. Apparently some of the larger news organizations are starting to cover this story, and they deserve every bit of bad press they get.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:09 PM ^
Yaseen is not suffering "real damage" or even any damage at all, other than the fact the Western high school apparently did not have him on track to graduate after his senior year.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:22 PM ^
I'm sorry, but that is just not a good take. Being able to participate in high school sports is an incredible opportunity which has enormous importance to a lot of people. You have to do nothing more than read the article that the OP linked to to see how difficult this has been for him and his family.
You could argue that this is all stupid and he shouldn't feel that way, but I don't think you can seriously argue that he hasn't been hurt by this.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:14 PM ^
Time to get paid!
August 12th, 2019 at 5:43 PM ^
Stipends?
August 12th, 2019 at 5:31 PM ^
It's more that most educator administrators (not teachers themselves) feel homeschoolers are a personal affront to the system. Yes, there are absolutely kids homeschooling who should be in school, but many with parents who have valid reasons (and not necessarily religious).
Minorities have been getting oppressed for a while now.
August 12th, 2019 at 7:02 PM ^
"Most educator administrators..." Really? Is this based on a survey?
August 12th, 2019 at 5:34 PM ^
This screams that its a pure bureaucratic reading of something written on paper, without use of any common sense interpretation of intent. This is the very thing that lights me off at work - when some idiot makes a decision because of how something is written on paper, rather than a common sense interpretation. Fuck the MHSAA. That body just proved that it is unreasonable and politically tone deaf.
Instead of siding with a kid, they made a discussed decision to screw the kid. They deserve whatever shit comes their way.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:52 PM ^
I have no intimate knowledge of this situation. It looks like what happened is his 8th grade year was actually his 9th grade year, meaning the start of his high school tenure. As soon as you start high school, the state starts keeping score and your clock starts ticking. When he started public high school, he started as a sophomore. Not sure why they didn't attempt to correct it then, as it should have been obvious based on his Unique Identification Code and transcript. Basically, you can't change your class year mid-stream in high school, and therein lies the problem. You also can't claim a medical redshirt. Sadly, there are lots of people who try to game the system and manipulate high school sports with transfers and games about grade and eligibility. The rules exist for sound reasons, and while it does sound like this kid got caught up in it with good intentions, they would still apply in this instance. And yes, parents around here absolutely slap a redshirt on their kids in elementary and middle school for athletic purposes. They can't do it in high school.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:56 PM ^
That's not what happened, he wasn't in 9th grade. He was in 8th but taking a bunch of 9th classes and during that year was ineligible to play high School sports as a middle schooler.
Tons of kids take advanced classes in middle School nowdays. They've never had an issue with it until now.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:58 PM ^
His first year in high school, he was reported as a 10th grader, meaning his previous year (home-schooled via online), he was reported as a 9th grader. That's the issue.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:04 PM ^
Not technically. Again back to the rule mshaa quoted. It's about years in highschool, not that his first year in HS he was in 10th (for example he still can't graduate and this is only his 4th year of eligibility). They could have quoted the 4 years of eligibility rule as reason why he should play.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:07 PM ^
His 8th grade year was reported as 9th, 9th as 10th, etc.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:17 PM ^
His first year in high school was in the "virtual home school" his father described. He was taking ninth grade classes and his transcript said he was in ninth grade. His first year at Western was his sophomore year. He couldn't have been registered as a sophomore unless he had a transcript saying that he had completed his freshman year, unless he'd gotten a waiver to skip the ninth grade (which is extremely rare and would have been mentioned in the story).
He got accelerated from second to fourth grade, and that made him a freshman a year early, while still in his "virtual home school." Had he been in public school, the exact same scenario would have played out, except that maybe he would have played football his freshman year.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:15 PM ^
That's an interesting argument, but I would object to your characterization of the rule.
When people say, 'the rules are there for a reason' in order to defend a particular bad outcome, they are making the claim that (1) the rule does more good than harm despite this bad outcome and (2) there is no other set of rules that could do the same amount of good while causing less harm.
I think 1 is true, but 2 is clearly not. If the problem is his initial classification, then they should simply allow him to change it. The kid is 17. He has made impressive progress towards his diploma as he is set to graduate in 3.5 years, but he still has not graduated. He has 3 high school classes left. This guy is exactly the kind of person who should be able to participate in high school sports.
You could easily design a system that made an exception for people in his position without doing any harm. But the MHSAA has refused to do so.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:18 PM ^
Clearly there is the letter of the rule and the spirit of the rule.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:19 PM ^
He's been in high school for four years and has not yet graduated. That should not be rewarded.
August 12th, 2019 at 7:50 PM ^
This is not quite accurate. He took some 9th grade courses as an 8th grader. That doesn’t mean he was “in high school”. There was a brilliant kid at my high school who excelled at math and science. He was taking 11th grade level Algebra 2 and 10th grade level chemistry as an 8th grader. He was still in middle school but was taking a couple of advanced classes. If you pretend that kid was an also athlete, when would you say this kid should have had his eligibility start? In 6th grade, which is when he took his first 9th grade level math course? Or when he actually reached 9th grade?
August 12th, 2019 at 8:57 PM ^
He was classified as a HS student when he was homeschooled, which started his eligibility clock. Has nothing to do with taking advanced classes.
August 12th, 2019 at 9:51 PM ^
So by your logic, if one takes AP classes a a junior in HS, this should count as a year of college eligibility? This is stupid. The administration is thinking through the nether region.
August 13th, 2019 at 9:08 AM ^
It has nothing to do with the classes he took! It has everything to do with his grade classification when he took them!
August 13th, 2019 at 11:53 AM ^
This has everything to do with a clerical error at best, a direct affront to home schooling at worst. It makes no sense to keep this kid off of the field. If keeping him off of the field is your conclusion, then I would simply ask that you revisit the premise. A is A.
August 14th, 2019 at 11:08 AM ^
This is not quite accurate. What classes a student takes is not what determines his grade level. What determines his/her grade level is his/her transcript. WLW could NOT have registered him as a sophomore without his transcript having shown that he had completed his freshman year. Now, the parents could (and apparently did) request that he be reclassified as a freshman, but that doesn't grant an extra year of athletic eligibility.
Again, the classes taken DON'T MATTER for high school grade level classification. The transcript is all that matters.
August 13th, 2019 at 10:06 AM ^
If the article is to be believed, this is technically correct but a bad take. He was only "in high school for four years" based on a clerical error. It appears that he was the age of a normal 8th grader and he and his parents believed he was in 8th grade, but he was technically a freshman because he had been accelerated in the home school system by mistake.
Obviously, if the parents and the school thought they corrected the issue in his first year at WLW (technically is 10th grade year but what they believed to be his 9th grade year) no one would have had any intention to progress him on a path to graduate in three years from that point.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:27 PM ^
He is 19!!! Found out in February! WLW is a dirty football school in this state. Don’t buy this article they put out. MHSAA does a ton dumb things but this isn’t one of them. Everyone involved got what they deserved
August 13th, 2019 at 9:52 AM ^
Interesting. The article says he's 17. If he's 19, that changes my perspective on this a lot. Where's the evidence of his age?
(Also kinda funny personally because the last two years, Walled Lake beat our local HS in the playoffs. So I was looking for a reason to side with the MHSAA! In all seriousness, though, I sincerely hope the family isn't lying about his age.)
August 12th, 2019 at 6:40 PM ^
Imagine if he didn’t have a scholarship yet and needed this “senior” season to get one. Maybe that’s the only way they can attend a big university. That would be a real misstep in my personal opinion. He’s not 23 trying to play. He just turned 17.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:42 PM ^
A kid at my school repeated a year of high school. And he could play sports as a 19 year old 5th year senior. This was in Michigan. Not sure how that was possible now lol.