Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 23, 1993 TAG: 9306230083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He sees himself tackling and hustling on the football field, where he tied a school record for interceptions last season.
And he sees himself finally getting a chance to show what he can do on the field for the varsity baseball team.
But the Virginia High School League sees him somewhere else: In the bleachers.
Michalski turns 19 on Aug. 30. League rules say anyone who reaches 19 before Oct. 1 cannot play sports or join in many other non-classroom activities, such as debating, yearbook staff or cheerleading.
Michalski has sued the league in an attempt to get his senior sports season back.
His lawsuit in Botetourt County Circuit Court says that Michalski is being unfairly penalized because he repeated first grade when he was living in California. At the time, the lawsuit says, his teacher and principal persuaded his parents to hold him back because he needed another year to mature.
Now, he is doing well in school, with a 2.68 grade average. But the year he repeated has come back to haunt him.
The lawsuit, filed by former state Sen. Dudley Emick, says the age rule "has absolutely no basis other than a date pulled out of the air."
The suit goes further: It attacks the league's very existence.
It says the league "has not been properly formed as an educational institution" because it is a private organization that has "arbitrarily" set up high-school principals as its voting members.
The lawsuit says the state Board of Education or the local School Board should be the organizations that decide who can and cannot join in interscholastic activities.
In court papers responding to the lawsuit, the league does not specifically lay out the reasoning behind the age rule. However, in some states, notably Texas, football coaches have been known to arrange to have junior-high athletes held back a year so they can mature and be bigger and better when they get to high school.
The league does say that its rules relate to the ideals of amateur competition, sportsmanship and academic standards. It says its rule book has grown over years mainly in response to "abuses of the principles of responsible, fair, safe and ethical conduct of interschool activities."
Ken Tilley, programs supervisor for the league, would not comment on the merits of the age rule. He did say that appeals of the rule "are not uncommon. Each case is heard on its merits."
He said some hardship exemptions are granted by the league's executive committee, but the league does not have statistics on how often. Asked what criteria the committee uses to decide who gets granted a hardship exemption, Tilley said, "It's just up to the committee that hears those cases."
In an August 1991 case, a Wise County judge granted a waiver to Matthew Cowden, a student at John I. Burton High School. Cowden had been held back twice because of what turned out to be a hearing problem.
The judge said Cowden could play football, but declined to rule on whether the age-limit rule was valid.
But in another case decided in 1991, a Montgomery County judge upheld the soundness of the age rule and said the courts had no reason to interfere in the league's rule-making unless the league's actions were clearly unreasonable or based on whim.
A hearing is set for July 6 in Michalski's case.
His lawyer will argue that this is not a case of someone who gained an unfair advantage by being held back.
Not that he's not a good athlete. Michalski, who is 5-foot-8 and 145 pounds, hopes to go on to try out for sports teams at Randolph-Macon College.
On Lord Botetourt's football team, he played cornerback on defense and wide receiver on offense. He scored the team's only touchdown against Northside High School and tied a school record by intercepting six passes for the season.
He played little for the baseball team this season, but he believes his chances would be better next spring because many of the team's starters have graduated.
"It's my senior year and I would like to play with all my buddies," Michalski said.
After he lost his appeals to the league, his parents told him it was up to him whether he wanted to take it to court. He decided to sue: "I just didn't want to let it happen to other people."
The age limit will be less a worry in the future, thanks to a rule change that Tilley said was proposed by Roanoke's Patrick Henry High School.
Starting with the 1995-1996 school year, anyone who turns 19 after Aug. 1 will be allowed take part in league-sponsored activities.
by CNB