Now that Frederick High School is back up and running this school year, it means that the athletic department is kicking into full gear. One of the jobs of the athletic department is to hold players accountable with CHSAA’s and Frederick’s sports eligibility requirements and standards. Staff members like Ty Gordon, have a massive list of students participating in a sport that he has to hold accountable for their academic life.

These standards cover a wide variety of a student-athlete’s academic life. The athletes must be in a certain amount of classes and you have to be passing so many classes. In addition to CHSAA standards, the coaches may implement their own requirements. Some of these requirements may be more strict or lenient on grades, and what classes you have to take.

“CHSAA has their standards, the school has their standards and they are generally alike. But then coaches can have those higher standards and have those different expectations, or they can have that same median standard as CHSAA or the school,” said Ty Gordon, assistant principal/athletic director for Frederick High School.

The purpose of these standards is to treat athletes as student-athletes. The athletes’ education and academics come first. Coaches, teachers, and parents need to treat their kids and students as students first. 

“It’s for preparing students for the future. We believe that athletes as leaders, we believe student-athletes who have good role models, and are just looked up to by a lot of people at school when they are doing well in class, generally everyone else does well in class,” said Mr. Gordon.

High school sports eligibility plays an important role in a team’s performance throughout the season. If athletes fail to keep up with their schools’ requirements, they could hinder their team’s overall performance in the games that they miss.

“If the leader of the program is not eligible and can’t participate, there’s a lot of things at stake. Where’s the leadership for the program as the number one person, we’re going to lose a lot of points because that player is not going to score those points for us. It puts the team in a bad situation,” Gordon continues.

Overall, a student’s athlete’s eligibility is very important. It holds them accountable and prepares them for the next stage in their life, while teaching them important life skills so if they don’t play sports in the future, they can have a more comfortable time later in life.