Published: 06:10 PM, Wed Mar 28, 2012
Vaughan: Shriners shouldn't charge athletes to participate in combine
I continue to be a lone voice crying in the wilderness on this one, but I will continue to speak out because I think it's just wrong.
The Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas, in an effort to improve its analysis of the available talent for the annual high school all-star game, has for some time been holding scouting combines across North Carolina to evaluate the crop of players available each year.
With that, I have no issue. It's a great idea and gives the coaches a good look at the candidates for the team.
What does trouble me is they charge each athlete $20 to take part in the combine.
I know of no other all-star game of its kind that does this. As far as I know, the annual N.C. Coaches Association East-West game in Greensboro each summer still picks its team without asking the potential players to pay any kind of fee.
The money paid by the players does go to a good cause. It's added to the money the Shriners raise to support their hospitals for crippled and burned children.
I certainly applaud that. But do the players have to be included in the fundraising process? It is their talents that people pay good money for tickets to come and watch the game. And aren't there enough other revenue streams from the Shriners through their fish fries and other events that more than make up for the money that can be raised by hitting on the players to kick in?
I wish the Shriners would give this practice a second thought, and do away with the player fee. There has to be a better way to raise money than to charge the people playing in the game.
The 13th annual Carver Classic track and field meet will be held Saturday at John Daskal Stadium at Reid Ross Classic School.
Competition will begin at 9:30 a.m. with preliminaries in both track and field events. Admission to the meet is $3.
Barring any major upheavals, the N.C. High School Athletic Association's realignment process for 2013-17 is about to come to a quiet end.
This weekend is the deadline for schools that have a complaint they were denied proper procedure in the process to file it with the NCHSAA office.
After that, the NCHSAA Board of Directors will hear final appeals at its May meeting in Chapel Hill. Then the board will vote to give final approval to the new alignment.
The new alignment will take effect in August of 2013.
As previously reported, the big changes for Cumberland County will be the move of Terry Sanford down to 3-A, joining Westover and Gray's Creek in the same conference.
Douglas Byrd will move back up to 4-A and be in the same league with Cape Fear, E.E. Smith, Pine Forest, Seventy-First, South View, Jack Britt and newcomer Overhills.
Scholastic sports editor Earl Vaughan Jr. can be reached at vaughane@fayobserver.com or 486-3519.