Last week, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association reached an agreement on a number of changes within its sports.
While most of the announcements from the WIAA Board of Control meeting last week had to do with tournament schedule changes and game limits, one new little quirk to boys and girls basketball was also introduced.
Direct from the press release:
“The basketball season regulations will experience a number of changes with the approval of four recommendations. The first will apply a mercy rule for varsity games during the regular season and throughout the tournament series beginning in 2013-14.
“A running clock will be implemented once the point differential reaches 40 points at any time after the conclusion of the third quarter unless a timeout is called. Regardless if the score differential subsequently dips below 40 points, the running clock remains in effect until the conclusion of the game.”
The other three changes – a waiver to a mandated rest after consecutive days of practice/competition, no Division 1 home sites for sectional play and three-official sets for all tournament games – make sense. In fact, it has always seemed a little odd that no matter how the WIAA works for neutral sites in the sectionals, it always seems at least one hosting team makes it that far.
But a mercy rule for basketball? So, OK, it’s not ending the game early like they do in softball. It’s just a running clock situation similar to what the WIAA does in football.
That said, I can only wonder what’s next. We now have in place mercy rules for five of the six “major” sports in high school competition: football, boys and girls basketball, baseball and softball. The sixth sport – volleyball – doesn’t have a rule yet, but I think that’s only because volleyball can’t think of one that makes sense.
I’m not sure having any mercy rules at all makes sense. Yes, a running clock – at least from a sportswriter’s standpoint in October when it’s 35 degrees outside and raining – can be a blessing. And from the standpoint of baseball, where innings pitched are counted and limited each week, ending a game early might have an advantage.
But so does having a coach who knows to pull an athlete after 3-4 innings in a massive blowout, and that little bit of common sense asks coaches and athletes to both respect the game.
This new rule – and the slew of mercy rules now in place – smacks of a world of participation ribbons and not keeping score. Both have their place, but at the lowest levels of sport, where athletes are trying to learn the basics of technique, fundamentals and sportsmanship.
There are many ways to address a blowout situation in any of the sports above – most of which most coaches practice already. Rotate in personnel and take the starters out of the game. Insure playing time for everyone on the roster. Use blowout situations to try new game strategies, new players or even someone in a new position. The possibilities are endless – and more often than not, have been tried.
I’m not blaming the WIAA, the Board of Control or anyone who pushed this idea. In light of the other sports that already have mercy rules, it makes sense.
But in society these days, we seem content to protect kids at all costs, especially when it comes to hurt feelings and sports. I think athletes and the sports they play – not to mention the coaches who direct them and the parents who help them grow up – would be better served by letting a situation play out, and see what lessons can be learned from it.
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