How We See It: Activities Association Rules Get In Way Of Local Competition

The top rule about rules should be that a rule should help.

That's especially true when it comes to an organization like the Arkansas Activities Association, the organization that governs athletic activities of schools in Arkansas. In other words, the association makes rules.

As with any rule-making body, the intentions are usually good, but the outcomes aren't always in the best interests of those being governed. The most recent example involved the basketball coach in Decatur, John Unger. He wanted to build a tournament full of good teams and looked around Northwest Arkansas. He knew there was a team in Rogers called Providence Academy, and he knew the coach at the private school with 425 students. Why not compete locally?

Because there's a rule against it.

The Arkansas Activities Association only likes certain kinds of activities. According to the association's rules, member schools cannot schedule a game against schools that are not members.The finding resulted in the scheduling of the Northeast Oklahoma Association of Homeschools, a team of home-schooled students who were approved by the Arkansas Activities Association because its Oklahoma counterpart accepted the home-school team.

"A home-school team from Oklahoma that's not even a real school got to play, and we didn't," Providence Coach Austin Bivens said. "We had to take our team and go to Tulsa, where we spent two nights in hotels. We had much rather have played at Decatur and kept that money local in Northwest Arkansas."

Lance Taylor, Arkansas Activities Association executive director, said the rule is needed to make sure the other rules are followed.

"If a school is not a member, we can't control if a 21-year-old is playing or even an 8-year-old. But if they apply for a membership, they agree to abide by the rules set forth by the Arkansas Activities Association. So all they have to do if they want to play is apply," he said.

And, of course, follow the rules, of which there are many. Those include student transfer rules that can have an impact on private schools. Fayetteville Christian School departed the association over those limitations.

In Decatur's case, the common-sense answer was to let two teams in relative proximity play each other, even if one is not a member of the activities association. It would have proved beneficial to the school that was a member, and that ought to be a concern of the governing organization.

Despite Taylor's concerns, allowing some level of nonconference competition with a nonmember school might be in order. If a nonmember school pulls a fast one -- such as playing a 21-year-old -- the effect would be self-correcting. The school that faced that unfair competition would not reschedule that school for future seasons.

With tight budgets and safety concerns about long trips, there ought to be room for occasional nonconference play with a nonmember of the activities association, especially if it makes the most sense for a school that is a member.