First Person Singular
Sports need private school division

By Justin Beaver
Richwood High School

If you were at the Summersville armory on March 8, you saw a public school’s loss to yet another private school when Richwood played Charleston Catholic in the Class A regional tournament.

Should private schools have their own conference in sports? I for one think they should. Why? In the past 12 years, there have only been two boys championship basketball games where a private school team has not been competing for the title. It is really hard for other single A teams to compete with the private schools because many private schools recruit players, have better facilities and get to practice longer.

“There is an unfair advantage because private school can afford to recruit and pay a lot of money for a good coach whereas public schools have to play with whoever shows up,” said Richwood athletic director Ed Williams.

Richwood senior Anthony Denna thinks that if Class A schools are not given their own conference, they should at least be moved up to a higher class.

Obviously the WVSSAC doesn’t see it this way, though, and private schools probably don’t either. To them, each of us public schools is probably just another school in the single A conference.

But I think something needs to be done. Private schools dominate public schools in just about every sport we play.