This is my high school and this ruling is as shameful as they come. Steve Savarese, the Executive Director of the AHSAA single-handedly destroyed this child's HS senior season. In the appeal hearing, an agreement was made with the central board and the attorneys to retroactively delete the "lost wages" rule from the handbook (because common sense) and declare Maori ELIGIBLE, and because of personal vendettas towards some of the admin within our system, Savarese personally reneged on the agreement. He is a dirty, crooked man.
For those who only see black and white where the rules are concerned, remember how many high school football players who have been given back their eligibility for falsified bona fide moves, remember how many white, male players who get their eligibility back because of who their parents are. This is a rule that shouldn't even exist in the 21st century as it is a violation of a student athlete's civil rights. If a student athlete has to work to support his or her family and is selected to travel overseas to represent out state in a National game, they should be allowed to accept payment for lost wages. You have a situation here, where the USA Basketball Director has admitted that the mistake came from their office--the check should have never been sent to Maori. They were allowed to accept reimbursement for certain things and when the check came, they thought it was part of that. It was deposited, and when the mistake was found, the family SELF REPORTED to the AHSAA and immediately returned the money. The other two HS girls who also received the money in error, did the same thing and were deemed eligible to play because they went through the proper channels to fix the mistake.
Our State is the only state who decided to PUNISH a young female athlete for being honest and truthful and reporting the mistake. This rule is not black and white--there are grey areas, but our state refused to budge because the Director has a vendetta against our admin. This is a dirty, dirty game being played by a man who gets his ego boosted by power and in the process, he is screwing with the lives children. Savarese better buckle up because it is about to get really difficult for him to hold that big head up in Alabama!!
#letmaoriplay