Re: Dartmouth & Harvard Ski Teams lack of diversity -- <h1>IVY LEAGUE SPORTS BOARD</h1>

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Subject: Re: Dartmouth & Harvard Ski Teams lack of diversity

Author:
RedWin

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Date Posted: 08:33:35 03/20/24 Wed
In reply to: Green Review 's message, "Dartmouth & Harvard Ski Teams lack of diversity" on 19:12:53 03/19/24 Tue

Not my area, but I think the point of this post, if parents are spending $75K per year for their kid's ski school, they probably have their priorities mixed up and is this an unfair advantage? We are seeing similar programs like IMG Academy in Florida where one of the parents in our area is sending his son to play football, who was not even starting for our local team. The cost of that program is around $80K per year. Is it fair for wealthy parents to buy their kid a spot on a college sports team?

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[> [> Subject: Fairness

Author:
Greg
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Date Posted: 10:11:44 03/20/24 Wed

Is it fair for an athletic parent to (a) find an athletic partner to marry; (b) conceive a naturally gifted child in terms of hand-eye coordination/strength/endurance; and (c) coach that child from an early age, developing in him or her skill, muscle memory and a feel for the game?

Is this fair?

If it sounds like I am not serious, that is not my intent. I am quite serious.

Most parents will try to give their children every advantage they can.

Two brilliant parents will often produce a brilliant child. Two very athletic parents will often produce a very athletic child.

These children will have a huge advantage applying to college. Is this fair?

Now suppose that these brilliant, athletic parents also are wealthy and can afford all the lessons, travel and equipment costs it now takes to compete at the highest level of high school sports. Is this fair?

I’m guessing that, so far, you are responding that everything in my list is fair. There is nothing inherently wrong with smart, athletic parents coaching, training and driving to AAU games and staying in hotels to further the probability that their child is desirable to colleges.

Maybe these smart, athletic parents can send their child to an exclusive boarding school for an excellent education that other parents either can’t afford or simply don’t want for their child. Is this fair?

You probably think that this is fair, too.

Now what if the parents in question are not smart or athletic, but only wealthy. Should they not do everything they can for their child?

I am completely serious. Why is acceptable for smart, athletic parents to coach and support their gifted child, but not acceptable for the merely wealthy parents to do exactly the same thing?

Now think about how you would answer these questions depending upon the race of the child in question.

Is that fair?

[> [> Subject: Re: Dartmouth & Harvard Ski Teams lack of diversity

Author:
sparman
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Date Posted: 11:37:43 03/20/24 Wed

If a kid cannot start on his local HS team, it's hard to see how he could suddenly impress college coaches enough to be given a college sports admission/scholarship based solely on the IMG name. The IMG name alone isn't going to cause a knowledgeable college recruiter, whose job depends on identifying talent, to unsee whatever deficiencies exist.

Perhaps IMG has the facilities and personnel to "coach up" a player enough to address clear deficiencies, but is this any different than sending a kid to a local camp, private coach clinic, or just hiring a prviate coach? We can disagree on the choice of priorities, but parents have been sending (or transferring) their kids to HS perceived to offer coaching advantages for a long time. As noted above this the same approach as for academic improvement.