Lieutenant Gov. Will Ainsworth criticized the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) on Friday for splitting up public and private school playoff competition.
Ainsworth said on Facebook, “I’m confident that AHSAA Executive Director Heath Harmon and the governing board will be remembered for extinguishing the flame of competitiveness and abandoning any effort at simple fairness and good sportsmanship under their watch.”
“Rather than allowing CHOOSE Act students to retain their eligibility, as the law requires, Harmon and the AHSAA have opted, instead, to segregate our public and private schools, which is punitive, wrong, and just plain hateful,” Ainsworth said. “The coaches participating in this boneheaded decision care only about winning championships, not about the high school athletes they are supposed to serve, the lessons about sportsmanship they are supposed to teach, and the simple respect and dignity that students and their parents deserve.”
He continued, “I am hearing from several public schools that the new AHSAA plan did not create the competitive balance they were hoping would result.”
“It’s apparently adversely affecting both public schools and private schools alike,” Ainsworth said.
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