Travesty in Basketball

01/30/2014

Great news!! 20 is being released to practice with her team this weekend and may get to play in her last game of the season on Tuesday!!

01/26/2014

#20 is still out with a concussion and can't play school or rec ball yet. Praying for a full and speedy recovery for her and that she can return to the game she loves very soon.

01/22/2014

I'm a parent and my kids play sports, contact sports; this should be an outrage to anyone, scary actually to anyone who has kids that play sports. I'm not a complainer or worry wart mom, my kids are tough, we've dealt with a lot including injuries on and off the fields and courts. Actually, #20 from Timber Creek High School is the first girl at TCHS to play on the schools football team in the history of the school; she's played football for 7 years; she, too, knows contact sports very well. Better than Haltom #15 ever could. The difference being that #20 knows how to be an athlete while Haltom #15 is a thug who is out of control and going unchecked by the very people who are supposed to be teaching her and helping to define her character.

I want the photos to speak for themselves, I want anyone who agrees that this can not be acceptable to please write to the Texas UIL, the Refs Association, Haltom High School, The Birdville ISD Athletic Director and PLEASE SHARE THIS PAGE!! This can NEVER be allowed to be what becomes normal and acceptable in any sport. Thank you in advance for your support of our efforts to see that this is not swept under the rug and those people responsible for condoning this behavior answer to the public; hopefully you'll get a better answer than I did from the Haltom HS VP and Coaches who told me this was just an aggressive player in a contact sport, a better answer from the refs than a foul and better answers from the Haltom parents who tried to defend this travesty and actually bragged in the hallway after the game that their kid did this and they were proud of her..... just shameful.

01/22/2014

I sent the following e-mail to the UIL Athletic Directors:
Dr. Mark Cousins, Director of Athletics
Darryl Beasley, Assistant Athletic Director
Peter Contreras, Assistant Athletic Director
Traci Neely, Assistant Athletic Director
Tony Timmons, Assistant Athletic Director
Ed Stidham, Compliance Officer

Here are their e-mail addresses:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
I just sent this last night but haven't heard from anyone yet.

Good evening,

I'm forwarding this e-mail and photos to you as a concerned parent about what is allowed to take place on our high school courts. With the emphasis on injuries in youth sports today, injury prevention and especially concussion injuries, I want to share this with you because I think you should know, if not look into, what took place during a JV girls high school basketball game on Tuesday, January 14th, 2014. I think the refs, at the very least, should be educated and shown these photos if they have not seen them already, and this call be addressed with them. The refs are there to control the game and the players. How can a ref see this and simply call a foul? He was standing in front of this play when it happened. What message are they sending to the player who did this, to the player this happened to and all the players on the court and in the stands who saw this? Not to mention all the kids seeing this on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites.

They sent the message that this is okay. The Haltom High School coaches and Administration told them all, including myself, that this is okay; just an aggressive player in a contact sport. In reality, this is a classic example of what should be not only be worthy of a tech call and getting tossed from the gym, but of possible game suspension, even being benched for the rest of the season. I can't imagine that #15 from Haltom is the type of athlete or quality of character student-athlete that the UIL is striving to produce. Complacency here would be shameful.

My e-mail below was sent in hopes of someone getting some answers from someone. To no avail and having fallen on deaf ears, I am sending this to you so that, at the very least, you are aware of the quality of referees that showed up to our game, the quality of ethics, character and coaching displayed by the Haltom High School JV and Varsity Girls coaches and administration, and the type of athlete they are producing whose behavior each has condoned.

I want the athletes to be safe on the court, as safe as possible in these high contact games. Injuries from true athletic competition is expected, basketball is a definitely a rough, contact sport. What happened here was not athleticism, it was not a good play, it was not an aggressive player just going up to block a shot. This was a malicious, violent, intentional act that neither ref officiating during this game, the Haltom HS coaches, the Haltom HS administration nor their fans saw as anything more than a foul.

I'm curious as to what you see. Curious to see what you can do to make sure this isn't accepted as just a foul. What steps can you take to see that an example is made for refs, coaches, administrations and players who think this is acceptable and what consequences need to be leveled as a result of this behavior. I thank you in advance for your time and careful consideration of this incident.

01/22/2014

Bill Birt Photography

This was called a foul by the refs in the game, the Haltom HS Coaches and Administration, and the Haltom HS parents. What this really was: Intentional, premeditated and malicious.

01/22/2014

So here is something I have held off positing about so I could be objective as possible in my post. Had I posted the night this happened, it would be a much different read, I was very angry on Tuesday and Wednesday. I am angry about this, don't misunderstand; but I'm even more disappointed in how this is being handled that I am sad for sports as a whole if this is now what is acceptable and called only a foul. Some of you might say, she's a mom and mom's just can't deal their babies being hurt. If you've met me and my kids, you know different. I haven't talked to a parent, mom or dad, who has thus far been okay with this. This game was on Tuesday and Michaela, as a result of this 'play' had to go to the ER on Thursday. She's Dx'd with a concussion and is out of basketball for 7-10 days depending on her symptoms. It's been a week and she's still having headaches and can't return to the sport she loves for at least a week or two longer depending on her symptoms.

Injuries happen in sports. Anyone who knows me knows we've had our share of sports injuries on and off the playing fields and courts. I have never been a complainer, quite the opposite actually, telling my girls to suck it up, you have to play harder and be better out there period. You help them rehab their injuries correctly and get back in there. Play through the pain and be a fighter. A mantra I've taught them on and off the court. What happened Tuesday is a totally different thing all together and I can't really tell them to accept something like this just because they are girls and have to put up with more on the field (or the court). For me, this crosses the line.

The pictures show #15 jumping in the air with her feet mid-back high to #20, grabbing her around the neck (not going for the ball), closing her arm around her neck, spinning her own body around to get the max force to choke and throw #20 to the ground. You can see that she lands facing the complete opposite direction than how she jumps in the air. If she was even remotely going for the ball she would have gone over the top of #20 and they would have landed in a pile going towards the basket. #20 was on her head and back, #15 is facing in the opposite direction.

I do know that Haltom is doing nothing and plans to do nothing about this. The Vice President at Haltom HS, Clara, said that she had talked to the principal and coaches and seen the pictures herself, and while she agreed with her coaches that it was aggressive, she couldn't do anything about any punishment because it happened during a basketball game. Her punishment, if any was needed, was up to the coaches. Their varsity coaches actually came over to the stands during the game to tell us parents that that is just an aggressive player and basketball is a contact sport. Redefining contact sport in my opinion. Creating a thug in a uniform is more like it.

It happened, it's over and Michaela is no better or worse from what happens from here to this girl; that is unless the girl from Haltom or any of her teammates decide to do this again the next time they play. In the first game of the year, when Michaela stepped to #15 for taking her teammate to the ground and kicking her, #15 said 'I'll see you next game..' Michaela got benched in that game because she stepped to this girl and mouthed off to the ref for not doing anything about #15 then. Guess they should have listened to her because what happened last Tuesday night is a direct result of #20 from Haltom HS having no consequences then.

From how this was handled by their coaches, parents and administration at Birdville ISD, that is almost surely to be the case though. Another reason they need to send the right message here. Unfortunately, they have leveled no consequences for this player. Her punishment: she was not put back in for of the rest of the game and that was only because the TCHS parents threw a fit, not because the coaches had any intention of doing the right thing.

The refs, we can't call a tech because a foul was already called.... whatever, sent the wrong message.

Its hard to look at Michaela's face, the pictures are hard to look at; that's my baby. It's like watching Michaela in a car crash. Stop for a second and think how you'd feel if that was your kid. They are there to oversee the game and conduct of the players. They did not do their jobs at this game and should be ashamed for sending the message that this is okay on any court.

Just a foul, wonder what a tech would really like to them.....

What's insulting about the incident is being told by the coaching staff at Haltom HS, JV and Varsity coaches and echoed by the BISD VP at Haltom HS, that this is just an aggressive player and basketball is a contact sport. Mind you, they too saw the pictures. Shameful and negligent for them to condone this behavior and allow their players to behave this way with no consequences what so ever.

I'd like to know what ya'll think about this and those of you who know Michaela, try to take the emotion of it being Michaela out of it. It's really hard but that's what I've tried to do and I have come to this conclusion:

Not only would I be just as mad and disappointed if it were any other kid, but I would have done a lot more if I weren't worried about how it may negatively affect my own players now and in the future. I have two at TCHS now and more going up through the feeder schools in KISD. KISD sports programs and sports are a major part of our lives. In no way has any TCHS coach or administration head done anything wrong; we have great coaches in KISD. I don't want to jeopardize their futures but have to put this to objective people for their feedback.