Should underage student athletes caught with alcohol be suspended from sports?

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So I was reading this article - it interested me because I know student athletes in this town.

https://www.boston25news.com/news/braintree-homeowners-face-charges-after-police-bust-nearly-50-high-schoolers-house-party/RTNG3UA4LJFITNQ335SX7P4RQU/

Braintree homeowners to face charges after police bust nearly 50 high schoolers at house party

Alcohol was found in the house by law enforcement, who says that none of the kids involved are facing criminal or juvenile charges.

Yet a lot of these students face social probation for drinking alcohol. For some students, that’s not a huge deal, to not attend certain school events.

But for those who play sports, this could be big.

“I just would like to see the punishment fit the crime, it’s not equally distributed, if you don’t play sports nothing happens,” said Cheryl Hawe, parent.

Many parents of Braintree High School students are worried about the punishment several students could face, after they were busted for drinking alcohol at a big house party last week.

Hawe says some of the students involved could be banned from playing in the upcoming hockey playoff games.

“It seems a little unfair that the kids most involved in the school get punished the most, and these are good kids they’re kids, they made a mistake,” Hawe said.

Now the matter is in the hands of the Braintree Public Schools, and the MIAA, which oversees high school sports.

And the big question that remains: Will those student athletes who were at the party be able to play?

“I worry about the psychological damage to these kids who are gonna be pariahs with other people because they’ve ruined the playoffs, they’ve ruined this, they’ve ruined that,” Hawe said.

Parents said Braintree has a stricter alcohol policy than most towns.

What are your thoughts - is this unfair?

And I do not think Braintree is stricter - I know kids in the town I live in not far from here - that have lost captain titles - and also could not play in playoffs and/or suspended from many games due to alcohol.

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@Linkat,

The local high school has a similar policy and it's a bit out of control. Last year right before state championships, a senior on the soccer team had her car raided because a vice principal thought he saw a container of alcohol in her car. There was no alcohol, but there was a pocket knife in the car. 1 week in school suspension and two weeks from the team so she missed two big playoff battles the second of which the team lost, so ending her high school sports career.

I get the "playing sports is a privilege" thing; I have to sit through the parent meeting twice a year. I also get the "unless the rules are strictly followed there will be accusations of favoritism" argument, but it wouldn't hurt to have some common sense in there. Maybe if administrators from other schools served on an appeal panel there could be a way for interested but unbiased school representatives to monitor fairness.

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@engineer,

engineer wrote:

The local high school has a similar policy and it's a bit out of control. Last year right before state championships, a senior on the soccer team had her car raided because a vice principal thought he saw a container of alcohol in her car.

That is crazy - I think this situation is a bit different - a party with 50 kids drinking alcohol where it must have been to a level where neighbors called the police vs entering a vehicle because you think you see a container of alcohol. He should have been able to just look in the car and see it was not.

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@Linkat,

You would think so, but she was pulled out of class and escorted to the car with police officers. You would also think that after the car was unlocked and the mistake was identified, that would be it, but then they searched the car and found the pocket knife.

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But in this case - I agree with the school. And the thing is it is not really just the school - MIAA - which is the state board for high school athletics sets the standards - the high school is supposed to enforce them.

Now I know some high schools let certain rules slide - but if they get caught letting the rules slide then they will lose out on state tournament play.

The kids know the rules - it is told over and over again - and every year things like this happen and the kids think they can get away with it. If you have tournament play coming up - you do not go to a party that alcohol is being served - it is just plain old dumb. They let the team down - if they are told these are the rules and this is going to happen if you do xyz, and then the MIAA or the school lets it slide - what is that teaching them? There are no rules?

In my opinion the kids are lucky they did not get arrested or at least threatened with it - what they did was against the law. The police instead let the school and MIAA know. Now is it fair that the others that do not play sports get no punishment - no it is not. But not everything is fair.

Same thing happened like I said for my older daughter - her co-captain a senior could not play in her senior day or in the tournament because she was drinking at a house party. And she should have known better because when she was a freshman on the team - a junior lost her captain title and sat out the first 6 games resulting in my daughter (as a freshman) got her starting spot where she kept it because of the same thing.

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@engineer,

engineer wrote:

You would think so, but she was pulled out of class and escorted to the car with police officers. You would also think that after the car was unlocked and the mistake was identified, that would be it, but then they searched the car and found the pocket knife.

I agree that is over the top. You find out the kid did not do what you suspected - you should apologize - sounds like the idiot just wanted to cover his a$$ so he figured he had to find something.

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@Linkat,

Before my daughter got to the team, we had a player get busted for social media comments about another team. The school makes the rules and the consequences very clear to both players and parents before each semester.

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