Over the summer a student from a nearby school joined the volleyball club where Frances Davies serves as recruiting coordinator. This student also transferred to Benbrook, where Frances Davies is the head volleyball coach. The school from which the student transferred is a whooping 8 miles away from Benbrook (as the crow flies).
Two of the students’ teammates from her previous school also play on the club team where Frances Davies serves as recruiting coordinator. In fact, Davies is their coach on the club team. And, I’m fairly certain these two players were slated to get the majority of playing time at the other school over the player who transferred into Benbrook.
As mentioned in Countdown 4, over the past few years numerous Benbrook players have played on a team at Davies’ non-school club.
Let’s see if the UIL Constitution and Contest Rules (C&CR) accidentally mentions any of these circumstances…
Well, there’s this inconvenient paragraph on page 61…
“Section 443: CHANGING SCHOOLS FOR ATHLETIC PURPOSES”
“(b) COMMON INDICATORS. District Executive Committees should look closely to determine if a student is changing schools for any athletic purpose. Some common indicators committees should include in their considerations include, but are not limited to:
… determining if a student played on a non-school team and is transferring to the school where members of the non-school team attend;
… determining if a student played on a non-school team and is transferring to the school where the non-school team coach or a relative of the non-school team coach, is the school coach;”
Page 61, UIL Constitution and Contest Rules, 2023-2024, One Hundred and Fourteenth Edition
So I guess Richard Penland and Frances Davies want us to believe there is some definition of “non‑school” and “school” that hinges on semantics? Is it the ambiguous use of the word “is” that is littered about nearly every sentence? “…is changing…” “…is transferring…” “…is the school coach.”
Is it the past tense use of the word “played?”
Gosh darn it! If only the UIL would give specific, unambiguous guidance as to what to look for.
Or maybe, because Richard Penland lied to the UIL – and Every Single Coach at Benbrook knows he lied – any coach can do whatever they want and he’ll sign off on it.
That’s my explanation.
What do you think, Bill?…
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