Alabama girl can play basketball again while waiting for clueless adults to come to their senses

[Squarehard]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/sports/basketball/alabama-girl-maori-davenport-.html

An Alabama girl's banishment from high school basketball came to an end on Friday morning when a circuit court judge accomplished what appeals to state boards and outcries from some of the most prominent voices in sports could not.

After the parents of Maori Davenport filed a motion in state court on Thursday to get their daughter back on the court, Pike County Circuit Court Judge Sonny Reagan ruled that Davenport could return to competition pending a hearing on whether she deserved to be ruled ineligible for accepting a mistaken payment from the sport's national governing body for playing on a junior national team last summer.

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Her athletic eligibility became a cause célèbre in the past week. On Nov. 30, Davenport, a 6-foot-4 forward, was called into her principal's office and told that the Alabama High School Athletic Association had ruled her ineligible for one year, her senior season.

The suspension was not for poor grades or unsportsmanlike conduct. It was because of a clerical error that U.S.A. Basketball, the sport's national governing body, readily admitted to having made, and the decision to suspend her became one of the more mind-boggling stories for those who follow amateur sports.

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The trouble began harmlessly enough over the summer, when Davenport represented the United States at the FIBA Under-18 Women's Americas Championship in Mexico City. She led the team in rebounding and blocks as it won gold.

U.S.A. Basketball compensates players who compete on national teams to make up for wages they could have earned working summer jobs rather than practicing or competing. The N.C.A.A. allows college athletes to accept these payments. It calls them "broken time payments."

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For players with high school eligibility remaining, U.S.A. Basketball typically inquires with individual state high school athletics associations to see if the payments can be accepted. Policies can vary by state.

In this case, because of what Craig Miller, a spokesman for U.S.A. Basketball, termed a "clerical error," nobody checked with the state high school athletic associations for the three players on the under-18 team with high school eligibility remaining. U.S.A. Basketball sent a check for $857.20 to Davenport and every other player on the team. On Aug. 27, Mario Davenport, Maori's father, received it. Two days later, she cashed it.

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Two months later, U.S.A. Basketball realized the error. In November, an employee called the Alabama athletics association, which told the U.S.A. Basketball employee that under Alabama rules, athletes could accept broken time payments only if the value was less than $200. On Nov. 26, a U.S.A. Basketball official called Davenport's mother, Tara Davenport, and informed her that Maori was not allowed to accept the stipend. The next day, Tara Davenport self-reported the violation to the state association and informed Charles Henderson High School officials, and on Nov. 28 she repaid U.S.A. Basketball.

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Some additional notes,

Even after she returned the money after being notified of the error, and Team USA personally sending a letter of the clerical error directly to the association, the President and other heads of the association refused to reverse the ruling on multiple occasions, citing that it's the policy, and continues to state why they can't make the exception because of slippery slope, if I do it for one, something pompous, and so on.

Can't believe it's not fully resolved yet after all this time, but looks like it's getting close.

 

[boxter432]

good. this whole thing is ridiculous, especially the old stubborn moron (old white jackass) at the top. common sense should overcome here.

 

[Ogami Itto]

Oh she's black, it all makes sense now, lol.

My point is of course they were gonna make it hard for her.

 

[Godfather]

There was clearly no malicious intent, and it was reported honestly and promptly upon being discovered. All the fucking deserved was a finger waggle and a stern, "Don't do it again"

Edit:

Oh she's black, it all makes sense now, lol.

My point is of course they were gonna make it hard for her.

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... oh.

 

[Squarehard]

There was clearly no malicious intent, and it was reported honestly and promptly upon being discovered. All the fucking deserved was a finger waggle and a stern, "Don't do it again"

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The problem is, she doesn't even deserve the "Don't do it again", as the fault was on Team USA, and they're supposed to check with all of the state's policies in regards to stipends, and they're the ones who made the error.

To even try to punish her for something that Team USA made a mistake on was just ridiculous.

The association are well within their rights to wag their fingers at Team USA, but to use the player as collateral was just a garbage move.

 

[Godfather]

The problem is, she doesn't even deserve the "Don't do it again", as the fault was on Team USA, and they're supposed to check with all of the state's policies in regards to stipends, and they're the ones who made the error.

To even try to punish her for something that Team USA made a mistake on was just ridiculous.

The association are well within their rights to wag their fingers at Team USA, but to use the player as collateral was just a garbage move.

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Sorry, I meant collectively, not her specifically.

 

[Stat]

Honestly, youth sports clerical errors are insane. And youth sports are completely ruined by insane adults.

I remember one year my entire team was disqualified in the playoffs because we had filled out the wrong information for a single player but the league never caught it the entire year and its not like we were breaking rules (we had a player that was signed to our team but didn't give his medical info).

So in the playoffs, we beat the last seed 3 straight games by a huge score, but ended up disqualified for this clerical error. Even the team we beat petitioned for themselves to forfeit the series (since all of their players/families went on vacation).