Looks like it's a win for sports
DEKALB -- Theoretically, at least, the kids can play.
That was the decision District 211 announced Monday with regard to its athletes currently in postseason competition in the event of a teacher's strike.
Though there's still disagreement over how coaches would be allowed to tend to their teams, there is, at least, a loophole that could allow for athletes to continue competing even in the event of a strike.
To have done anything less would have gone against everything those in education preach about the potential rewards for hard work.
Tragic is a word sometimes poorly used when it comes to sports. But to stick to the original plan of arbitrarily canceling all athletic events -- especially for kids in the IHSA postseason -- would have been a tragic mistake.
Not to mention embarrassing, too, by punishing a bunch of kids in a battle between adults.
Imagine working four years for a chance to play football in Champaign's Memorial Stadium, volleyball in Illinois State's Redbird Arena or soccer at North Central College.
And then suddenly you're told to take your ball and stay home.
Imagine running countless lonely miles in hopes of getting to the state cross country meet.
And then you're told to take off your shoes because you can't go to Detweiller Park in Peoria.
Say this much for the IHSA, which takes a lot of heat on a lot of fronts. The organization is wise enough to step back and leave the decisions in these battles to the school districts involved.
IHSA by-laws allow teams or individuals that have started state competition to not have it finished by a strike. It's then up to a school district to pull the plug or not.
Unfortunately a whole bunch of girls swimmers in the five District 211 schools -- Palatine, Fremd, Schaumburg, Conant and Hoffman Estates -- will be nervously waiting to see what happens on the labor front since their postseason doesn't start with sectional meets scheduled for Nov. 10.
And this is an issue that still has potential complications even with the policy change.
In the event of a strike, District 211 said all coaches would have to report for work for a full school day to be available to coach in practices, games or meets. A full staff would have to be on hand for practices and games to be held.
That could make for some tough decisions for teacher-coaches to keep their postseasons going. If they followed 211's guidelines, hopefully there would be understanding from their peers about why they chose to continue leading their kids into competition.
Because it's about seniors such as Ryan Hourigan and Dan Sutton working to bring Palatine back to the playoffs for the first time in 10 years and experiencing the thrill of Friday's second-round home game with powerful Mount Carmel.
And it's about Schaumburg's boys soccer team experiencing the heartbreak of a double-overtime supersectional loss to Rockford Boylan on Monday night.
That's a heck of a better way to go out than pointlessly experiencing no emotion at all.