Maumelle Mother Sues After Son Gets Cut From Team

[sugarfree irony]

http://arkansasmatters.com/fulltext?nxd_id=536702

Do public school students have a right to play sports?

The mother of a Maumelle High School student sued the school, district and state after her son was dropped from the basketball team.

Teresa Bloodman filed the suit in October, and after months of hearings, motions and rulings, a trail date still hasn't been set.

In her lawsuit, Bloodman says her son (a freshman) made the team after two tryouts last August. After three months of practice, the coaches held a third tryout for football players transitioning to basketball.

Bloodman says nine of the basketball team's 11 players were replaced, including her son.

The suit states:

"...the deprivation of the right to a full and complete education which includes competition in sports and consequently athletic scholarships impairs *John Doe of a property right guaranteed under both the U.S. and State Constitutions."

Bloodman contends holding a third tryout violated her son's equal protection right, because it's not the same method used by girl's teams when they pick their squads.

She also says coaches Michael Shook and Grover Garrison are not certified or qualified to coach, and therefore not competent to decide who makes the team.

Finally, she contends her son wasn't given the opportunity to appeal his dismissal from the team, a due process violation.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highsc...113537254.html

As reported by Arkansas Matters and USA Today, among other sources, the mother of a Maumelle (Ark.) High freshman, a woman named Teresa Bloodman, filed suit against the school, district and state after her son was replaced on the school's basketball team following a third set of tryouts for the team that re-incorporated members of the school's football team.

Bloodman's son, who is a minor and was not named in the suit, spent two months as part of the team after qualifying through two tryouts in August only to be replaced three months later by a member of the football team, as were nine of the team's 11 original players.

While those replacements might stoke claims of favoritism, the lawsuit filed by Bloodman goes much further, claiming that her son has a Constitutional right to participate in school sports, as you can read in the excerpt from the filed suit directly below.
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So now every child that tries has to make the team ? I know nothing about try outs for high school sport teams . The boy is only a freshman , perhaps he is not talented enough for a varsity team ?

[DamagedGoods]

Oh for fuck sakes. Is it surprising that this idiot is a lawyer?

Bloodman contends holding a third tryout violated her son's equal protection right, because it's not the same method used by girl's teams when they pick their squads.

I'm guessing there are less girls trying out for sports teams than boys.

Finally, she contends her son wasn't given the opportunity to appeal his dismissal from the team, a due process violation.

Seriously? Are you fucking shitting me with this pathetic frivolous cunt nugget of a lawsuit? People hate lawyers because of lawyers like this.

[cubby]

In my experience, with my sons in Rec ball and High School Ball teams (My older son lettered in Baseball), the parents that most often caused the most fuss and made the most noise about their kids getting cut or being benched during the game are the parents of the kid that either didn't have the talent that their parents thought they had or was the parent of the kid that didn't particularly want to be there and was only trying out because the parents were pretty much forcing them to do it.


Kids don't usually like to have alot of attention focused on them about something like this because they know they'll probably never get picked for a team ever again. Nobody wants the problem of dealing with parents like this and the kids know it.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

My daughter played basketball all the way up until 9th grade. Those teams took any and all comers. At the high school level, they had to try out. She did and didn't make it. Her heart was broken. I went to the office to find out about intramural teams. They had none for girls - only boys. My daughter cried her eyes out and yelled at the athletic director and voilà!! they created a co-ed division that girls could join.

AND THEN MY DAUGHTER DIDN'T JOIN IT!!! The little shit. It worked out well because her other "love" was Track and she joined the Cross Country team. Eventually she set several records, was top ranked in the state, and won a partial college scholarship. But we still laugh about the "Basketball Fiasco".

[biteme]

She's as fucked up as any parent, claiming everyone has a right to make the team/play or play the position mommy & daddy want
I've dealt with a lot of these parents and most embarrass the hell out of their child
However I do feel there may be an issue with how the coaches handle the school program, seems they keep players on as practice dummies to have a whole practice squad until other players become available to the team, also know a lot of coaches that feel athletes should only concentrate on their sport, if they play other sports those kids get cut first, bad coaching practices

[VAS1326]

I have to agree that the coaches methods are unfair. The child made the team after 2 try-outs. Then he was on the squad for three months attending pratices and believing he was part of that team. Then viola football ends and oh yeah you really didn't make the team you will have to try out again and now you are off the team sorry bout your luck kid. That would be hard for an adult to deal with and I can see how that would be upsetting to the child. I agree with biteme it almost seemed like they picked a temporary team waiting for football to end. It really is not a fair or nice way to do things.


I don't know if a lawsuit is the answer but something needs to change with how things are done there. We don't know if by committing to basketball the child missed out on another activity. It appears they only allow students one sport at a time. If the boy didn't make it past the first two rounds then okay he sucks. He's not that good. However; they replaced 9 out of 11 players. That's crazy. Apparently everybody who made it past the first two rounds were not that good. So why waste the child (and in essence the parent's) time? When I was in school we praticed daily.....so 5 days a week over 3 months is a lot of work for nothing. This kid and the 9 others got dicked around.