“We didn’t want them treated like second-class citizens.”
That was one athletic director’s assessment about the Catholic League’s decision to welcome participation by associate members in the CHSL’s season-ending championship tournaments.
“It was a long time coming,” said league director Vic Michaels. “We are happy to do this.”
To put “this” into context:
Way back in 1996, the CHSL executive board defined the difference between “full” and “associate” memberships, namely, associate members are “non-public or religious-based high schools” who are “granted the right to participate in regular-season divisional or dual meet competition only (but) not eligible for Catholic League preliminaries or championship meets, individual sports playoffs or Catholic League championships in team sports.”
Associate members at the time included Taylor Light and Life and Detroit Urban Jewish Academy (both of which eventually closed) and a Catholic high school from Windsor, which the CHSL subsequently dropped because of the hassle of crossing the border and the difference in athletic eligibility rules between Michigan and Ontario.
About a dozen years ago, West Bloomfield Frankel Jewish Academy joined the CHSL.
Six years ago, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood and Macomb Lutheran North came aboard when their conference, the Metro, folded.
While the Jewish Academy, established in 2000, is still developing its young sports program, the more-established Cranbrook and Lutheran North have fielded highly competitive teams, more than holding their own during the CHSL’s regular season, often winning enough to be eligible for CHSL playoffs.
Lutheran North athletic director Ryan Wesley told me a couple of years ago, “We are watching teams we had beat playing for the championship. It is difficult to explain to our community why this is so.”
Another consideration in these deliberations over the years has been that a good number of the 29 boys and girls sports the CHSL sponsors play their championship contests on a Saturday, such as cross country, football, tennis, hockey, bowling, wrestling, swimming, soccer and lacrosse. Currently, the Jewish Academy fields boys and girls teams in four of these sports. When I wrote about this matter in September 2014, Jewish Academy’s AD Rick Dorn said, “It is our core belief not to engage in any school activities on the Sabbath (sunset Friday to sunset Saturday).”
However, Saturdays are often the best days for academic athletics, according to Michaels, because of facility scheduling and other considerations.
The solution: The executive board adopted the reverse of a practice employed by the Michigan High School Athletic Association. Whereas high schools are automatically opted-in — that is, eligible — for MHSAA tournaments, but can choose to opt-out — that is, not participate, the CHSL will deem associate members as automatically opted out, but allowed to opt-in to play in any or all of the playoffs.
“They’ll be in the playoffs if they tell us in writing they want to be,” Michaels said. Referencing the Sabbath factor, he added: “We’ve been talking for years how not to hurt the Jewish Academy. Now, if the dates of playoffs don’t conflict with their schedule, they can opt-in.”
Dorn said, “We are excited about the possibility” of playing in the CHSL playoffs. “We are looking forward to it.”
“We’re very pleased,” Wesley said. “The kids are excited.”
At Cranbrook, AD Steve Graf said, “We intend to opt-in for all sports. The kids feel more a part of the league now.”
Noting how occasionally third- or fourth-place teams have been competing for the CHSL championships in recent years, Graf said, “Now the best teams will be on the field or the court. The playoffs will be more powerful and representative of the league.”
Don Horkey may be reached at [email protected].
