COMMACK MIDDLE SCHOOL
Dear Parent/Guardian:
I would like to take this opportunity to explain the nature of our Commack Middle School interscholastic/athletic program to you. A number of questions regarding this program arise from time to time. I hope this letter will provide you with a clear understanding of our goals and objectives for youngsters at the Middle School.
Participation in interscholastic sports at the Middle School is governed by the rules of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Modified Program. These rules set standards of participation that deal with age, eligibility, practice sessions, number of contests, duration of seasons, penalties, health examinations, and safety, to mention some of the more critical areas of concern. This program is available to youngsters in grades seven and eight.
Sports available by season are as follows:
Fall (9/5/07 - 11/3/07) - cheerleading, cross-country (boys and girls), field hockey, soccer (boys and girls), tennis (girls)
(9/5/07 – 11/10/07) - football
Early Winter* (11/12/07 – 1/19/08) - basketball (boys),
volleyball (girls), wrestling
* Note: All Early Winter sports may have tryouts a maximum of 3 days during
the week of November 5th.
Late Winter (1/21/08 – 3/29/08) - basketball (girls), volleyball (boys)
Spring (3/31/08 – 6/7/08) - baseball, gymnastics (girls), lacrosse (boys and girls), softball, track (boys and girls), tennis (boys)
Parents should note the season starting and ending times in order that family vacations do not interfere with your son(s) or daughter(s) sport season. In addition, athletes are encouraged to obtain their physical exams in the summer. If this is not possible they should schedule a school physical exam through the nurse’s office several weeks before their first season starting date.
Schedules for our teams are developed by the Section XI Scheduling Committee. Section XI is the local governing body for athletics in Suffolk County and operates under the guidelines of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association. The Commack Middle School competes primarily within Division II, which consists of schools from Babylon, Bay Shore, Brentwood, Copiague, Deer Park, Elwood, Half Hollow Hills, Harborfields, Huntington, Islip, Kings Park, Lindenhurst, Northport, South Huntington, West Babylon, West Islip, and Wyandanch. As you can see this division consists of schools in Western Suffolk County from both the north and south shores and is essentially a geographic configuration designed to limit travel.
While the Commack School District stresses participation and encourages coaches at this level to carry as many youngsters as is practical, "cutting" from teams is necessary in a number of sports. There are no mandatory participation rules within Section XI at any level. Unlike community programs, youngsters are not guaranteed any set amount of playing time. However, all Commack coaches are given the opportunity to play fifth or extra periods, providing their opponents are willing to do so. The objective here is to provide some game experience to as many youngsters as possible.
Unlike community programs, student-athletes are expected to attend practices regularly five days per week. This requires a great deal of commitment from each individual who makes a team. Generally speaking, students are not penalized for missing practices or games or for coming late to practice due to a medical emergency, illness, death in a family, religious observance or staying after school for extra-help. Missing practices or games for those or other reasons may result in reduced playing time and/or other penalties, as priority for participation is given to those youngsters who are in regular attendance. Attending practice, which involves the instructional phase of each sport, is equally important as attending games.
Parents of youngsters in the Middle School athletic program are urged to eliminate as many conflicts as possible between the demands of family and other school activities and the participation in interscholastics. It is exceedingly difficult for coaches to be effective when there is inconsistent attendance for any given practice or game. Coaches have been urged to either refrain from carrying youngsters on their teams who have regular weekly commitments to other activities that conflict with interscholastic games and practices or to give priority consideration for playing time to those youngsters with regular attendance.
Since one of the objectives of our program is to encourage sportsmanship, we are requesting that coaches and parents stress with our athletes the importance of appropriate behavior at all times. Coaches and parents can be powerful role models for our youngsters and should, therefore, be setting the examples we expect our athletes to follow.
I hope this letter has served to clarify some of the more important elements regarding our program. Your continued support of your children and our coaches is appreciated. Please contact me if you have any questions regarding this information. Click here for Parent Consent Form and Instructions for Physicals.
Sincerely,
Jeremy
Thode
Director H.P.E.R.