While clearly comprehending the rule’s intended purpose of maintaining the athletic integrity of high school competition, three things about said rule are incomprehensibly unfathomable.
First, I would imagine that it is the rule and not the exception, that a student who changes his location with the expressed intention to attend a distant boarding school, performs such an action without the accompaniment of his parents, thus rendering the student’s home address unchanged.
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Second, Groome was transferring back to the school that he attended his freshman and sophomore years, with the sole purpose to conclude his high school career with the companionship of his friends and family. One can argue that, by the letter of the law, he was in violation; however, by the spirit of the law, he was not guilty of any sort of wrongdoing, and to mischaracterize such an action performed by a 17-year-old kid is dishonorable.
Third, the rulings rendered under this rule, and their associated punishments, are not granted any opportunity for an appeal process; for had such a process been initiated, sane minds would have concluded that Groome’s intentions were innocent, and in no way an attempt the violate the very integrity that said rule was designed to protect.
Nonetheless, without venturing into the timing of the unmerited suspension, it is certainly reasonable to attempt to quantify the financial hit absorbed by Groome as a result of the NJSIAA’s antiquated policies.
Despite a general lack of information regarding Groome’s 30-day suspension by the NJSIAA, the negative publicity surrounding, said suspension provides a limited explanation for Groome’s plunge in his anticipated draft position. Groome’s signability, or lack thereof, is likely the greater culprit, and his recent activity with respect to college commitments, could only have served to fuel such doubts.
Next: Leverage of college