ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 24, 1996 TAG: 9612240081
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
THE SKILL and competitiveness levels vary, of course. But whether at Virginia Tech or in Roanoke's high schools, athletics ought to be part of the overall educational program, and not primarily a business venture.
This is a central reason why the contrast is so disturbing between the on-the-field success - commercial as well as athletic - of Tech's Orange Bowl-bound football team, and the off-the-field disastrous conduct of a number of Tech football players (and, in some cases now, ex-players).
It is also why the Roanoke School Board shouldn't expect high-school athletics to be financially self-supporting.
Superintendent Wayne Harris recommended last week that the board provide a special appropriation of $65,000 in each of the next two years to cover deficits being run up by the sports programs at Patrick Henry and William Fleming high schools.
Rising transportation costs are playing a role in the deficits. But school officials attribute them mostly to declining fan interest in the "revenue sports" of football and basketball - and greater student interest in such "nonrevenue sports" as soccer, tennis and girls' volleyball.
The trend toward greater interest in a more balanced array of sports shouldn't be lamented just because it costs more money, any more than a sudden upsurge of student interest in advanced but costlier academic courses would be cause for wailing. Getting more students interested in a broader variety of sports, many of which will serve participants far longer into adulthood than football or basketball, is to be encouraged.
Less reliance on football and basketball to raise the money to subsidize other sports would be healthy for the former, too. Learning to try to win as a team can be a valuable part of the education of many young people. Not so for learning to try to win at whatever cost, which is where the commercialization of big-time sports can sometimes lead.
Understanding football and basketball as integral parts of education may carry a dollar cost. But the alternative, demanding that they be successful and self-supporting businesses, can carry a greater cost to institutional integrity.
LENGTH: Short : 44 linesby CNB