HS runner from Illinois banned from competing for competing in a 5K road race

But sometimes a rule is not stupid. Just because you disagree with it does not mean it is stupid. Sometimes rules outlast their usefulness. Sometimes rules are blatantly discriminatory (see rules about girls running in certain types of clothing).

There is a rationale that is good behind the rule: to reduce athletes from overcompeting and increasing their chance at an injury.

Now I think a season long suspension is overkill. Next meet would seem fine. However in this case that kid would have missed a state qualifying meet which sucks but would still be in line with the intent on managing competition load.

got a good laugh out of this. the majority of high school coaches in any sport are terrible. For every sean brosnan there are ten english teachers whose qualifications begin and end at running JV cross country 20 years ago

Are they barred from entering any races or could they run in a 3.2 mile race since that is not the same distance of their HS competition?

Here in the dc area, every good swimmer goes to their HS meets even if most don't ever train with the hs.

And it's not a perception, it's a 100% lock they get better training with year round club. Lol. And around here, with nobody having silly rules like this, they go to both club meets and HS meets. All club meets that any swimmers go to are NGB sanctioned. There is no such thing as unsanctioned meets outside of summer outdoor silly season.

this rule is so stupid, as a Cleveland sports fan i might just hate it more than Kelly Olynyk

power-hungry buttmunches who want to suspend a HS kid for running the local Turkey trot or to raise money? ugh, i did that in college, too. and the kid is autistic?

Rojo this is another cause you should take up. you took on the Kenyan Parliament, time to mix it up in Chicago politics step up the pace

I really cannot express adequately how dumb this IL rule. It's literally none of their business. They way out of their lane.

Not the race director, but coaches or other adults would have stopped me. I was a 9:20 2 miler in 9th grade at 105 lbs. I was quiet and respectful and had good relationships with area coaches. My freshman year after the state XC meet a 4:11 miler from Maine West promised to take me through a 4 mile road race in Skokie in 19:30 or so. His coach verified we both could run this pre-Thanksgiving race. My coach did as well. I was a dumb freshman and was glad to have the advice and support.

Club soccer is a money pit for parents. I would venture it is the same for most travel sports.

Not just a money pit but mostly an unnecessary money pit.

re select soccer, where i lived most people played both. junior year we'd qualified for dallas cup, a big international tournament, but also advanced deep enough towards HS state we were facing a potential schedule conflict. i'm just gonna say we did not just naively do things, we started asking questions. coach, can we play for both teams same week. can i miss class and practice for the tourney then parachute back in for games. eligibility, etc.

sorry, but to me, the dude from MS, this kid, the kid from PA whose race did/didn't count for state, is it that people aren't thinking/asking questions? or do they assume the powers that be will make them some sort of libertarian exception, rule might be someone else's problem but it doesn't apply to me? kid's parents seemed to think there should be some sort of fact-specific breakdown. that's not a rule. and the last thing IL or some other state wants to do is have to do some belabored hearing and consider all sides to decide everything. so we have a rule.

re the rule, "overcompeting" usually gets handled with a limit on how many races you can have between season start and the state progression. TX you can only run x meets in TF once the season starts until state.

i think this is more about 2 teams in a season, basically the in season transfer ban. you're not supposed to run for 2 HS in a season. but some states view running unattached in another race as a second team. the MS kid last year. i'd think this would be pointed more at the administrative problem running outside of the HS in season poses. is he on another team or running for himself? did he wear his club jersey? HS garb? a nondistinct uniform/running stuff?

to me the solution is kid can run but he has to wear his HS uni and it counts against any meet limit. that gets rid of your "2 teams" issue.

So are there rules about doing too much mileage? About training too hard? About eating a proper diet and doing stretching to prevent injury. This is a useless rule.

The rule is so that athletes can't compete against professionals or college athletes. Imagine a tennis player going pro at 16 playing all over the world and then jumping into a HS conference meet and state meet.

last thing i was doing was looking for extra races atop XC/soccer on sat/sun. and when i got to the offseason i was getting a sat off for a change, not looking for races.

that being said, re competition, on the one hand, harmless "moonlighting," on the other hand, the PA kid wanted his elite indoor race to count as a time qualifier for state in the absence of an actual meet with his HS at the distance.

re the elite invitationals, it's not just that time qualifier kids could pick their opposition to get a faster time -- it's if you or i asked for the same privilege we'd get told no. we can't just pay the fee and run the same race same meet.

the rule doesn't block that in the offseason. we'd play all over the country, international teams, etc. in league i had to guard a kid who was a future D1 all-american. but not DURING THE HS SEASON.

you keep saying it's banning pro/college/elite contact. it's not. it's banning it during the season which is usually more of an amateurism or 2 transfer teams or eligibility thing. that the state doesn't want to have to monitor your moonlighting to make sure you stay amateur and aren't on 2 teams at the same time. "no" means "no." you do anything i don't have to split hairs and figure the truth out.

but if they meant never then all the travel and select kids are gone even for offseason stuff. that can't be the rule.

no one could do footlocker or junior olympics type stuff if it was a year round ban. it's a season ban.

Let. This. Story. Die.

Go run a road race with this kid a STFU.

Lmao. Is this a big problem? Or a regular occurrence? And if it's allowed the 9 months a sport is not in season, does banning it in season help? Help what? How?