This isnt right....RE South Meck

Ya'll, there are some possible legal ramifications here too. I'll just say this; when he enrolled at S. Meck, his parents should have signed an affidavit saying they were his parents and they lived at "so and so address" as part of the enrollment paperwork. When they moved and left him with someone that had not been declared his guardian through the legal system, that made him an illegal participant regardless of all of the hoops they said thay had to go through to make sure things were done correctly. This was very unfortunate, and I hate it for the kid. Understand that I don't have a dog in this fight athletically, but I do know what has to go on for a kid to be legally enrolled in a school. And regardless of how it is easy to blame the coach, AD, administration, etc... for this, you will just have to trust me when I say that this happens every year at a BUNCH of schools in almost the exact same situation as this kid. No one was trying to cheat the system on this or the majority of other past situations like this (notice I didn't say ALL). It was just a case of "I think that I have everything filled out to make this work", but there was one more form that was missed in the loop, which in turn caused this situation to form.

 

This happens all the time

I think somebody probably knew about it and waited until they wanted to use it against South Meck. Central Cabarrus got screwed here too because they lost a home game. These rosters should be set in time to replace teams in the playoffs if someone is kicked out.

 

AL

Reminds me of some past American Legion baseball last-minute reporting of questionable roster eligibility.

 

WHY has this story died locally


Everybody knew about the Mom.


It was plain wrong.

 

at the Independence Butler game tonight there was a woman who stood up in the stands behind the end zone all night and help up a sign that said "NCHSAA, what about South Meck?"

 

OK...I'll say it.

Guess we'll have to see how the Independence investigation goes. However, I will say that I hope there's not a double standard in the works here. Nobody knows the details, but sure seems fishy that South Meck forfeits while Independence merely benches their "alleged" illegal player.

If there's any impropriety at all, CMS has NO CHOICE but to forfeit Big I's playoffs and season. Sad, isn't it? But...rules are rules.

 

An inelligible player is an inelligible player whether you know it or not. I do not believe the NCHSAA is going to come out of this one looking very good.

 

Who cares? One less scrub team not in the playoffs.

 

Prolly people that know the difference between right, wrong and

COMMON SENSE ( whicch isn`t very commo these days)

& those that give damn about kids.


PS I`m WAY past having a kid in HS

LANGSTON WERTZ JR.

[email protected]


Player removed, but team plays on



Jimmy Yokeley, whose son Jey was ruled ineligible hours before South Mecklenburg was to play its first high school football playoff game in 13 years, said Wednesday that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools can make a simple rule change to help with sports eligibility.

Yokeley said CMS officials in student placement, who he said asked his son in January whether he played sports, should have given the family more direction about sports eligibility.

"There's a total disconnect at CMS student placement," Jimmy Yokeley said Wednesday in an interview with the Observer. "There's no connection as to whether that student may potentially play a sport. In hindsight, I would strongly suggest CMS consider implementing that. It's a very easy step."

The team learned of the ineligibility ruling Nov. 9, about 25 minutes before it was to board the bus for its first-round game at Central Cabarrus. South Mecklenburg (7-4) also forfeited its regular-season wins.

Jimmy Yokeley said his family met twice with officials at Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools' student placement services -- in January and in July -- to enroll and re-enroll Jey at South Mecklenburg, where he became a star quarterback.

Both times, Jimmy Yokeley said, his family never asked specifically about sports eligibility, which would require a legal transfer of guardianship to Jey's grandparents, with whom he now lives.

When the family walked into the January meeting, Jimmy Yokeley said a CMS official looked at Jey, who is 6-foot-4 and nearly 200 pounds, and asked if he played sports.

"I play basketball and football," Jey replied.

Jimmy Yokeley said his parents asked if a legal transfer of guardianship was necessary.

Student placement officials told them no, Jimmy Yokeley said. Such a transfer is necessary to play sports, but he said his family never asked specifically about sports eligibility and student placement services never mentioned it.

"They did not mislead us," Jimmy Yokeley said. "I truly believe it was a complete act of omission."

CMS spokesperson Nora Carr said student placement is not trained to provide sports information.

"That kind of determination needs to be made by the AD at the school," Carr said, "or if there's a question ... that would go to the district athletic department."

When South Mecklenburg athletics director Mike Jones checked players' eligibility before the season, he apparently did not catch that Jey needed a legal guardianship transfer. Jones declined an Observer interview request this week.

After a rigorous screening process, CMS had Jimmy Yokeley sign an "in locos parentis" statement, which Carr said means "someone acting in place of the parents."

"They give you permission to attend school for academic reasons," Carr said, "but they have nothing to do with sports eligibility."

For 13 years, Jimmy and Sheila Yokeley lived in the Park Crossing neighborhood in the middle of the South Meck zone.

They were near Jimmy Yokeley's parents, Jim and Judy, who have lived down the road from South Meck for 30 years. Jimmy moved his wife and kids to Union County before his daughter, Jordan, started her junior year at Weddington High. Jey started there as a freshman in 2004.

In January 2006, Jimmy Yokeley took a new job with the N.C. State Port Authority in Wilmington. He put his house up for sale. His wife, Sheila, would stay behind until it sold.

Jordan was in college at Alabama. Jey asked to go with his father and enrolled at Wilmington Hoggard, hoping to get acclimated. In a few months, though, Jey got homesick. Jimmy's job caused him to travel, and the Union County house wasn't selling.

That summer, Jey told his family he wanted to stay in the Charlotte area and finish school. Jey moved in with his grandparents and enrolled at Charlotte Christian in the fall of 2006 for his junior year.

But by last Christmas, the cost of having a son at a private school and a daughter at Alabama -- plus supporting two households -- became too much for Jimmy Yokeley.

A month later, the family met with CMS about moving Jey to South Meck.




Everybody in town knew the circumctances of his Mom`s cancer. They had awareness rallies, sold ribbons, news & sports stories... the whole deal..