Homeschoolers Not Welcome at Spur MTB League

[ChrisF]

My apologies to SPUR and the organisers ....

 

Been telling everybody that I would have to wait until Tuesday for our school to be added to the list of schools .... DONE, registered, and entered !! 

 

 

Not that I would want to derail this thread with facts or any such silly stuff .... but in registering I actually read the rules on the SPUR page .....    SCARY thought !  Who actually reads this stuff ....

 

In any case, this is a SCHOOLS series.  There are BY-LAWS in various provinces that cause these provinces to acknowledge home-schooling as "schools" ... THIS is why home schooled kids are entered in some provinces and not in others .....

 

 

Couple of rules worth noting - The League focuses mainly on High Schools, but in many regions provision is made to accommodate junior schools as this boosts numbers at smaller events and allows for a feeder system to develop. In Gauteng, for example, there will not be enough room to manage all the additional categories.

 

So if MAritz is excluded tomorrow because there are too many high school kids. hey them are the rules ....

 

 

and then the one that is currently under discussion -

• No rider is permitted to represent a school that they are not registered at
• Under the schools act, home-schools are not defined as a school and therefore cannot represent a school in the League
• Home-school riders are permitted to participate in the following regions as per the agreed regional bylaws due to historical reasons and re-alignment of League structures: Eastern Cape (Port Elizabeth, East London), Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Free State, Southern Cape, Western Cape, Kwazulu Natal, Northern Cape

[PygaSchmyga]

What has this got to do with fish recipes? 

 

Go start a your own thread on the GAUTENG SPUR INTER SCHOOL LEAGUE THAT NOW INCLUDES HOME SCHOOLED PUPILS AS GHOST RIDERS, WHICH IS UNFAIR AS THEY DO NOT QUALIFY FOR THE FINALS

 

This one has been legitimately hijacked and you are discriminating against us for not allowing us to explore the finer aspects of seafood.

what he said

[Patchelicious]

The extremists, both for and against whatever the argument is at the moment, are equally guilty of what they are accusing each other of.

 

Juju vs Kallie!

[Slowbee]

what ever happens, take your own fish knife to the spur.

[PygaSchmyga]

what ever happens, take your own fish knife to the spur.

   

 

I miss the salad valley.  What should we do about that?

 

#justasking

[Slowbee]

 

 

I miss the salad valley.  What should we do about that?

 

#justasking

ask a vegetarian.

[scotty]

.

 

[Traveler]

.

 

I see the start of a new argument.... They forget the Beer .....

[Jewbacca]

ask a vegetarian.

Mary-Mo?

[Paddaman]

 

 

I miss the salad valley.  What should we do about that?

 

#justasking

The Burger with salad valley was the best deal ever at the Spur, maybe we should protest about that. 

 

Spur must reinstate the Salad valley, especially the crab sticks and feta cheese

[Paddaman]

On another thought,

Maybe we should get a Sponsor for the HS team which may/ may not be allowed to entry the Spur Series:

 

[Popit]

Looks like after 33 pages , engagement is happeneiong ...
Good news for all parties concerned ..

Some really great posts on here .

Some real Tappits as well  

[Escapee..]

Hey Shaun, given the Spur Series purpose as a schools' league, their objective is understandable, however, not necessary acceptable. But don't despair, there are MANY alternatives. At Gauteng North Cycling (GNC) we have developed a "pipeline" for XCO development and our XCO Dev Strat goes far beyond only one series. Furthermore, our dev plan offers development from ages 8 - 80 and not only from 12 - 18! I attach the document that briefly explains the model. Please feel free to contact me for more detailed information inclusive of practical guidance on when & where to start. It kicked off in 2017 and is a "rolling" strategy, riders can jump in at any time ... some of the riders that started from scratch in Jan 2017 are top-5 in the current SA XCO Cup Series and kick butt on the said schools series!

 

GNC Mtb Commissioner

2018_19 XCO DevelopmentPlan01.pdf

 

Enticement!!!

 

Did you and the Sheriff have that race???

Man oh man that was a great thread

[Shaun Green]

I posted something a few days ago that was misconstrued and not 'fonted' properly so let me clarify.

 

As a coach, one of the most frustrating things if all. Is the intractability of parents. I have just gone through a ridiculous set of circumstances where a national level event was mostly ruined by a parent who was unable to understand that the WANTS of an individual cannot interfere with the NEEDS of the team, or that the parent wasn't wrong about a specific circumstance.

 

I have no comment at all about the merits of home-schooling one way or the other. Separate that out straight away.

 

I am only going to use logic here.

 

1) in any competition, the rules are structured in a way to benefit the majority and to provide a safe environment for optimal performance. In Aus hey have actually just stopped up to 13year old boys from competing nationally to prevent long-term performance issues. They have also banned performance kit for all 12 amd unders to keep the ongoing war for minimal performance improvements at massive cost down to a reasonable age.

 

But 13 year old girls can compete still as they are 'more mature' than boys. Physically, yes, but to bitter experience, emotionally no (see above)

 

The point is 'wanting' someone to compete is not the same as 'needing' them.

 

In this home-school situation, in the specific situation, which Meurant did put succinctly, it does not appear that the child needs to compete. There are other alternatives, and any exclusion is for the enhancement of the sport in a team environment, and the parent has decided to exclude the child from a team. The 'I want her to be part of a team' is not the organisers issue, it is the parent's.

 

2) the Exclusion/Prejudice angle

 

The second principal is whether or not their is prejudice to home schools in Gauteng, and whether the treatment of home-schoolers by other provinces is even relevant to the discussion.

 

If the issue is numbers in Gauteng, then there is NO discussion. Every single league in every sport has category adjustments if the numbers are too large. English Premier League, Super 15,whatever. It isn't good enough to say 'My son wants to play for XYZ' when you have deliberately chosen to live in the area of PQR.

 

BUT: if the child is good enough, as this young lady appears to be, and could play for Man U, the parent can't complain if they only want to play for Anonymous United.

 

3) Now that is a team sport environment, which is slightly different I know, so let's take athlwtics. At the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games, the World Student Games, the South African Champs - somewhere down that spectrum the numbers become small enough that the teams themselves become representative of the full talent base.

 

By that I mean there can be 10 Americans all faster than the first Kazakh, or whatever. So they have restricted access - at the Olympics to 2/3, at Commonwealth to 4, etc. At some point the numbers are few enough that there may be just a time based qualification and as many who qualify can compete. But you cannot complain if you want to get to the final and there are 4 Aussies in your way at the Comm Games and you are in a team of one, and don't meet the qualifying criteria (even if that criteria is not performance based, like you are from Kazakhstan)

 

I guess what I am saying is life ain't fair.

 

But now, number 4:

 

And this is the only where I may turn to defend the participation of this young lady:

- I do not know the full numbers issue, Meurant does say there are concerns in Gauteng

- I do not know if they limit current competing school team sizes (eg do the top Gauteng schools have to have a team of 4, say, or can any number of kids from that school compete?)

- do the schools themselves provide assistance to the infrastructure of the series in terms of capital/officials/development/sustainability/representivity, especially in South Africa. This may be controversial but, EVEN IN MY EXPERIENCE HERE, it is the more weathly, private school parents who give less of a sh=t about the team and social requirements and more about their own darling child, to the detriment to the sport AND their own child's development. Home schoolers may be very nice people, but unless they, as a group abide with the social requirements they will cause issues.

I will take a minor bet that a 'team' of individuals with personal agendas will be a disaster, and that is why 'ghost riding' is more logical, if possible.

 

 

My summary is that most arguments on this thread have been black and white. Under certain conditions, in situations where the participation numberscan be controlled (for now) I would say there is no harm for this young lady to participate. But that may not be the case, or may not become the case. I hope Mr Green is flexible enough to understand the organiser's intent with the series and not to try force a round peg. The wants of his SPECIFIC child do not outweigh the list of needs for the sport in Gauteng. But he does have a right to have had that explained to him, and if a solution can be mutually found, good luck.

 

What I do not get though, through all of this is how the hell are people that stupid that they go after the sponsor especially when the issue is not as simple as it appears? What a bunch of total, utter morons.

 

It must be the education system.

 

Thank you Thor for you well-considered reasonably balanced response.

 

Just a few comments on your points above:

1. The organiser seems to be willing to entertain proposals. We intend to frame two of these as "team opportunities” rather than “ïssues”. Some of us are hopeful; let’s see how it goes.
2. The numbers issue in Gauteng appears to have been remedied by splitting the province into three regions.
3. Agreed.
4. This is why simply joining a school team might still be the most effective way of contributing. No-one is asking for a free ride (pun intended  ).

It is no longer about my daughter. This was the last year that she could still have ridden in this  league. Sadly she missed the first regional race this Saturday past. Lord-willing, she will still continue to participate in other smaller XCO races, and some of the bigger Marathon Races. Hopefully other budding MTB riders will still benefit from the positive results of the debate. Our daughter does have younger brothers and sisters. They all ride.

[Jewbacca]

Lets hope the grass is Greener for her younger siblings..... (sorry)

[Patchelicious]

Thank you Thor for you well-considered reasonably balanced response.

 

Just a few comments on your points above:

• The organiser seems to be willing to entertain proposals. We intend to frame two of these as "team opportunities” rather than “ïssues”. Some of us are hopeful; let’s see how it goes.
• The numbers issue in Gauteng appears to have been remedied by splitting the province into three regions.
• Agreed.
• This is why simply joining a school team might still be the most effective way of contributing. No-one is asking for a free ride (pun intended ).

It is no longer about my daughter. This was the last year that she could still have ridden in this league. Sadly she missed the first regional race this Saturday past. Lord-willing, she will still continue to participate in other smaller XCO races, and some of the bigger Marathon Races. Hopefully other budding MTB riders will still benefit from the positive results of the debate. Our daughter does have younger brothers and sisters. They all ride.

Good to hear that the organizers are more reasonable than some of the Hubbers “defending” them.